Irregular border crossings into the EU are down 18% in the first seven months of the year but people taking illegal boat journeys across the English Channel to the UK are up 25%, according to new statistics issued by the EU’s border agency.
Irregular crossings toward the UK via the Channel rose by 26% to 41,800 attempts, Frontex said on Friday.
It attributed the surge to new tactics used by people smugglers.
“This increase is attributed to favourable weather, the use of harder-to-detect ‘taxi boats’ that pickup people from various spots on the coast and more migrants per vessel.
Smuggling networks remain active and agile, often disregarding migrants’ safety and putting their lives in serious danger.
One emerging tactic is ‘simultaneous departures,’ where multiple overcrowded boats launch at once. Many vessels are unseaworthy and prone to engine failure, leaving migrants stranded or forced to swim. French authorities respond quickly, often with Frontex support. But boats that remain afloat continue toward the UK. The average number of people per boat has risen to nearly 60, with some carrying almost 100.”
Frontex said the number of people who entered the bloc through an irregular route fell to 95,200 from January to August with the majority of primary routes, including those across the Mediterranean and those to the Canary Islands from West Africa and into eastern Europe through the western Balkans, seeing lower numbers.
However it said “pressure remains high across all three Mediterranean routes.”
Crossings on the east of the Mediterranean into Greece were down by 16% to 26,200. However a new migratory route from Libya into Crete, denounced by the Greek prime minister last month, had emerged in recent months with around 10,000 crossings so far this year.
The route, which in recent years has generated most heated political reaction, from Tunisia into Italy, recorded 36,700 crossings an increase of 9% on 2024. Frontex data suggests smugglers have shifted operations with Libya, cited as the main departure point on the central Mediterranean route.
Smuggling into Spain from Morocco and Algeria was up 11% with criminal gangs charging between €900 and €20,000 per journey, said Frontex.
The West African route saw a drop of 46%, it said.
The Finnish foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, said in the past hour that she hoped Trump will move ahead with sanctions on Russia.
Speaking to Reuters this morning, she said:
“I certainly hope that President Trump will move forward with those sanctions.
What we do see – and suspect now as well – is that the reason that Russia has again shown some willingness to talk, is that the increased arms deliveries [to Ukraine] are definitely piling up the pressure on Russia to find a way out of the war.”
Valtonen also argued that “the only strategy to end the war in Ukraine is to keep aiding Ukraine”.
The US president Donald Trump’s original deadline for Russia to move on ending its invasion of Ukraine ends today.
Asked if he was ready to follow through on his threats of sanctions and secondary tariffs, Trump told reporters last night:
It’s going to be up to him. We’re going to see what he has to say.
He then added he was “very disappointed” in Putin, but – in an apparent concession to the Kremlin – said he would be ready to meet the Russian leader, regardless of whether he meets with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
That contradicted a New York Post report citing a White House official who said that Trump would only meet Putin if the Kremlin leader met Zelenskyy, something Putin has previously rejected.
The Trump-Putin summit could take place as early as next week, with the United Arab Emirates floated as a potential place for the meeting.
But before that happens, will Trump move on sanctions as promised to exert even more pressure on Russia? Let’s see.
Elsewhere, I will be looking at the EU’s reactions on the latest in Israel and Gaza, and keep an eye on Trump’s plans to announce a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Friday 8 August 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
