Addressing illegal migration and its associated organized crime, including people smuggling, has been a major focus within the EU’s institutions and social and cultural initiatives. The issue of illegal migration has gained urgency in EU countries due to several factors. These include the heightened security concerns following terrorist attacks in the USA, Great Britain, France and Spain, debates over the effectiveness of European multiculturalism models which sometimes show Islamophobic tendencies, and notably, the economic downturn post-2008. This period saw a decline in living standards across many European nations and unemployment rates reaching levels not seen since the 1930s.Under these circumstances, economic migrants from Arab, predominantly Muslim states in the Mediterranean logically became a lightning rod for the concerns and dissatisfaction of the European public, to which the member states and the European Union had to react (Brtnický, 2016).

According to the data from 2013, there were 23 million immigrants from territories outside the EU in EU member states. Of this number, 9.3 million come from neighboring countries, i.e. around 40% of the total number of immigrants from third countries. About 70% is in the southern neighborhood, specifically the countries of the Arab Mediterranean and Turkey (Fargues, 2013: 5). The area of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean is undoubtedly one of the biggest sources of migration to the EU, and it is certain that it will continue to be so in the coming years. Illegal migration will certainly be strengthened by the disintegration of state authority in Libya and much less drastic but similar developments in Tunisia and Egypt. The conflict in Syria also has a significant impact. According to UN data from September in 2013, over two million people fled Syria to neighboring countries, who are forced to live in very temporary conditions in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey (UN Refugee Agency, 2013). Many of them try to get illegally to EU member states, especially to Italy and by land to Bulgaria and Greece. The Arab Mediterranean is not only a source of migration, but also an important transit route for illegal migrants from countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South Asia, which strengthens migration pressure towards the north (the EU) (Brtnický, 2016).

After 10 years, on 1 January 2023, 27.3 million citizens of non-member countries were residing in an EU Member State, representing 6.1 % of the EU population. This represents an increase of 3.5 million compared to the previous year. In addition, 13.9 million persons living in one of the EU Member States on 1 January 2023 were citizens of another EU Member State. In absolute terms, the largest numbers of non-nationals living in the EU Member States on 1 January 2023 were found in Germany (12.3 million), Spain (6.1 million), France (5.6 million) and Italy (5.1 million). Non-nationals in these four Member States collectively represented 70.6 % of the total number of non-nationals living in the EU, while the same four Member States had a 57.9 % share of the EU’s population. In relative terms, the EU Member State with the highest share of non-nationals on 1 January 2023 was Luxembourg, where non-nationals accounted for 47.4 % of the total population. High proportions of foreign citizens (more than 10 % of the resident population) were also observed in Malta (25.3 %), Cyprus (19.9 %), Austria (18.8 %), Estonia (17.3 %), Germany (14.6 %), Ireland (14.4 %), Latvia (13.9 %), Belgium (13.5 %), Spain (12.7 %) and Denmark (10.5 %). In contrast, non-nationals represented less than 3 % of the population in Romania (1.1 %), Slovakia (1.1 %), Poland (1.2 %), Bulgaria (1.3 %), Croatia (1.8 %) and Hungary (2.4 %) (Eurostat, 2024).

In 2022, 5.1 million immigrants came to the EU from non-EU countries and 1.5 million people previously residing in one EU Member State migrated to another Member State. Taking into account that 0.4 million people with unknown country of previous residence also migrated to an EU Member State, this makes a total of 7.0 million arrivals as a result of international immigration in 2022. On the other hand, about 2.7 million people emigrated to either another EU Member State or to a country outside the EU. Of them, about 1.0 million people were reported to have left an EU Member State to migrate to a country outside the EU. In comparison, in 2021 there were, respectively, an estimated 2.4 million immigrants to the EU from non-EU countries and 1.4 million people previously residing in one EU Member State migrated to another Member State. About 1.0 million people emigrated from the EU to a country outside the EU in 2021. Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, there were, respectively, an estimated 2.7 million immigrants to the EU from non-EU countries and 1.4 million people previously residing in one EU Member State migrated to another Member State. About 1.2 million people emigrated from the EU to a country outside the EU in 2019.