ROME -- In 2015 the European Union saw a record number of illegal migrant journeys, causing alarm for potential terrorist infiltration, according to Frontex data published on Wednesday.  Last year EU countries reported over 1,82 million “illegal crossings of the external borders,” almost six times the previous record, which had been set in 2014.

 Frontex, the agency for the control of the external EU borders, were the ones to announce the news in their 2016 risk analysis, estimating another million migrant arrivals in Europe this year.  For the most part the illegal border crossings came from those migrants who arrived into Greece, via their outer islands, from Turkey, and into Italy by sea.  However those who arrived via Greece are often counted again when they arrive at another EU border after travelling the Balkan route.

 Another record to be broken was also that for asylum seekers, with requests for asylum in the EU totalling the never before seen level of 1.35 million, according to data from the European Asylum Office and quoted by Frontex in their risk analysis published on Wednesday.  In March, Eurostat had also published data putting the number of asylum claims at 1.25 million, which is double the statistics for 2014.

 Amongst their risk analysis Frontex pointed out that the Paris attacks “have clearly demonstrated that the irregular migrant flows may be used by terrorists to join the EU.”  On this note they have raised the terrorist alert amongst migrants.  According also to the document they have published, two of the terrorists involved in the actions in Paris, “had previously entered through Greece, by way of Leros, by showing the Greek authorities false Syrian documents.”

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