The EU Commission has dismissed worries that the escalation of the Iran conflict could soon trigger a new wave of refugees heading toward Europe.
In a statement to Bild’s Thursday issue, EU Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner talked about his recent conversations with Ankara. He said that on Monday he had a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who assured him that Turkey had sealed its borders to the west of Iran and that both sides remain committed to maintaining, and even intensifying, cooperation between the European Union and Turkey.
Brunner also discussed his visit to Senegal, where he signed a new asylum pact on Tuesday and handed over EU‑funded boats and vessels to the coast guard in Dakar. The Austrian said that Senegal is a very important partner in West Africa and that the cooperation is working “very, very well”. He pointed to the numbers: illegal migration by smuggler boats from Senegal to Europe has fallen by more than 60 %, which he described as a “good signal”. In addition, Brunner confirmed that he and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye agreed on further efforts to tackle international drug trafficking, among other joint initiatives.
