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Welcome to the inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett, one question for expert witnesses and an answer.

When the leaders of nine European countries broke from talks at the end of September in Malta,

they had the makings of an agreement to tackle arguably the most complicated problem currently facing the block.

Over 200,000 migrants have reached the borders of Europe so far in 2023 and the number is growing year on year.

The war in Ukraine has certainly added to the recent influx but underpinning the increases the number of boats making their way across the Mediterranean from North Africa.

Among the pledges was help for Italy to cope with the mass of people heading to its shores and relocating of some of the arrivals within the EU.

There was also talk of more funding to crack down on smugglers but within days the nascent agreement had hit a roadblock.

Poland and Hungary, both opposed to taking in migrants themselves, were not prepared to pay money to their southern peers to help cover the cost of hosting them.

This week on the inquiry we're asking, can Europe solve its migrant crisis?

Our first expert witness is Hannah Beerens, Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe based in Brussels.

It's a big problem because it's a theme that's currently dominating elections in so many different parts of Europe but also other parts of the globe.

Europe's migration crisis began in 2015 when the arrival of over a million refugees fleeing in part the war in Syria left the EU struggling to respond.

Since then other factors have led migrants to head for European shores, not least the war in Ukraine since Russia's invasion at the start of last year over 4 million Ukrainians of sought protection within the European Union.

In the last years we had predominantly persons arriving from countries which were affected by war or internal conflicts or top nationalities for Syrians, Afghans, sometimes also.

Other countries at war like Eritrea and Ethiopia so protracted conflict, we have climate-related hardship which is exacerbating either wars or economic instability and we also have the remnants of the COVID-19 pandemic that had resulted in huge impact on economies especially the tourism sector.

The collapse of tourism during the pandemic has indeed played a major role in North Africa, Tunisia's economy in particular is very dependent on visiting travelers and was decimated during the pandemic.

That a more autocratic leader and civil strife in neighbouring Libya have all led to a surge in departures of people from the region.

Unlike Ukrainians the majority of those leaving North Africa are not entitled to travel to the European Union without a visa.

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