Migration to Europe will increase in 2024 as people try to enter the continent before new laws aimed at reducing the number of refugees are introduced, claims think tank ICMPD, writes The Guardian, informs UNN.
Details
The International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) predicts that many of those who want to come to Europe will rush before migration laws are tightened.
"I call it the closed store effect. People will hear all these migration measures being announced during election campaigns and think they should be here (in the EU - ed.) before they come into force," said Michael Spindelegger, director general of ICMPD.
He called on politicians to redouble efforts to create legal routes and partner with private businesses to set up centers in African and Central Asian countries from where large numbers of migrants are arriving in Europe.
The center's report also said the war in the Middle East and the prospect of Donald Trump returning to power in the U.S. will lead to huge flows of people.
U.S. restrictions on migration routes may result in an increase in the number of Venezuelans and Colombians enjoying visa-free travel to Spain.
The new migration laws agreed by the EU late last year will initially be more of a magnet than a deterrent to many who try to enter Europe before they come into force later this year.
Former Austrian Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said that migrants are needed in Europe so that the EU can maintain a sufficient labor force that is in short supply across the bloc.
EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson recently stated the need to increase the number of workers in the EU by 1 million to keep pace with demographic change, noting that "doing so in an orderly way is a challenge.
Spindelegger said the numbers are much higher, with 1 million people needed in Germany alone and 500,000 in Austria. He warned that if the private sector can't hire, it will simply shift investments elsewhere.
Supplement
Final EU data for 2023 is expected to show that more than 1 million asylum claims were made last year, an increase of around 20 percent from 2022 and the highest number since 2016.