EU Facing Internal Divisions in Dealing With Migration, Commissioner Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Union is facing internal divisions in its dealing with migration flows, as member states cannot agree on a common position due to their individual relations with countries of origin of migrants, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Friday.

"We have an internal challenge [on the issue of immigration] that is that we need to speak with one voice as team Europe. We are coming closer to that, but this is sometimes a challenge, as different members have different relations with some countries," Johansson said at the Munich Security Conference.

The commissioner added that the EU needed to work closely with states outside the bloc to protect its external borders and manage migration "in an orderly way."

Johansson said earlier this month that the number of asylum seekers in 2022 had reached 1 million, with another 300,000 illegal entries. About 60% of those asylum bids were from people who did not need international protection, the commissioner added.

The European Commission links the heavy workload on migration services with the Ukraine conflict. Last year, the EU faced an influx of millions of Ukrainian refugees who, unlike people from other countries, receive refugee status automatically.

For years, migration has been one of the major issues within the EU as member states have different approaches to the issue, with such countries as Austria and Hungary traditionally sharing a tougher migration policy than the rest of the bloc.