Frontex deputy director Gil Arias Fernandez said that the economic crisis has caused a drop in the number of migrants coming to the EU and that the Italy-Libya migration agreement has also had “a very strong dissuading effect.” “When you see people who have spent a lot of money on their journey, who have faced great danger during the sea crossing, come back having been expelled from the country of arrival, you think twice before undertaking a similar voyage.”
Frontex reports a 16% reduction in the overall number of irregular migrants stopped at EU borders over the past year. Sicily and Lampedusa experienced a 54% reduction in migrants over the first six months of 2009 compared with 2008 figures, 6,760 vs. 14,800.
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MIGRANTS AT SEA 