Given the increasing numbers of asylum seekers, the EU must take careful effective action

On 4 March in Brussels, the Latvian Foreign Ministry’s Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs, Zanda Kalniņa Lukaševica, took part in a European Parliament hearing on the future of the European Union (EU) asylum policy and said that caution should be exercised with respect to the proposals on opening new legal migration channels. Special attention ought to be devoted to providing assistance to third countries thereby addressing the causes of migration.

The hearing takes place at the time when the importance of the issue of the asylum policy is increasing and humanitarian crises are deepening in the proximity of EU borders. Persecution due to people's political convictions gives rise to new challenges, which cause increasing numbers of refugees to seek protection in the EU.

Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica emphasised during the debate that the EU needs, on the one hand, to act effectively in order to ensure assistance to people in crisis situations and, on the other hand, to prevent risks related to the abuse of the asylum system by illegal immigrants.

The hearing was organised by the European People’s Party to address the issues of border security and trafficking in human beings, and challenges to cooperation among the member states. The aim of the discussions was to formulate the position of the political group on the asylum issue to be presented in the nearest month in view of an aggravating crisis in the immediate proximity of the EU.

Last year, 3,419 people drowned in the Mediterranean in an attempt to reach Europe. On the whole, more than 276,000 migrants entered the EU illegally, and this figure represents an increase of 155% compared to 2013.