A Belgian expert participated in the conference of the Austrian Contact Point to the European Migration Network (EMN) focusing on opportunities and challenges in the management of EU's external borders. Participants inter alia identified the weaponization of migration as a major challenge concerning the protection of EU's external borders.

Frontex revealed today that the number of detections of irregular border crossings at EU’s external borders rose by one fifth (+18%) in the first eight months of 2023 to over 232 350 and that this increase was primarily driven by the number of arrivals through the Central Mediterranean, which remains the main migratory route into the EU.