Well dear readers, it seems that during 2010, in accordance with the readmission statement between Ukraine and the EU, 800 illegal immigrants were returned to Ukraine by the EU.
171 of those were from South-East Asia and the rest were Ukrainians and other CIS nations.
800? That is a truly fantastic figure that both sides should be exceptionally proud of given the size of the border between Ukraine and the EU. It is not as though there is a fence or wall that runs along the land border between Ukraine and the EU nations with which it borders after all.
There are hundreds of kilometers of shared border with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, not to mention a short boat trip across the Danube Delta from Odessa Oblast and you are in another EU nation, Romania.
Add to this the extremely busy shipping routes between Odessa and the EU, plus trains, planes and automobiles for illegals to use (independently or trafficked via organised crime groups) and 800 is a figure that would and should elate both sides.
Unfortunately it is impossible to get behind the numbers and find out how many of this 800 actually entered the EU before 2010 but were subsequently caught and returned during 2010.
Of course that figure is only those who successfully made it over the EU border and who were immediately or eventually caught. It does not include those who didn’t get that far or those that have disappeared into the night once successfully crossing into the EU. Equally without the ability to get behind the figures, some returned in 2010 may have been in the EU for some time prior to 2010 when they were returned and were included in that years figures.
I am sure the EU would be happy to have all border areas with only 800 confirmed illegals being sent back in the southern regions. That said, I am sure the EU would be much happier if it wasn’t so easy to buy a legitimate Lithuanian, Latvian or Bulgarian passport which probably equals 800 illegally acquired EU citizenships in a year as well.
The amount of Russians and Ukrainians who hold passports for such nations in dubious ways, by now must exceed the number of illegal immigrants returned to Ukraine in 2010. It has been an on-going business ever since my time in Moscow many, many years ago and is equally prevalent and available to Ukrainians in my years here.
That is before you look at officials in Romania and Hungary offering citizenship to neighbouring nations that historically were once part of their territory through “grandfather rights”. A large number of Moldovans would have claim to Romanian citizenship via grandfather rights for example.
Nevertheless, whatever the true extent of the illegal immigration via Ukraine, the fact that only 800 people, less than 2.2 people a day, are returned to Ukraine by the EU under the readmission agreement, shows some real commitment by Ukraine to uphold its side of the immigration bargain with the EU given the length of the borders and the ingenuity of those trying to get to the EU illegally.
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