EU warns of risk of influx of migrants due to food crisis

The European Union must prepare for new waves of migrants forced to leave their countries due to the food crisis. This was stated by the acting DIRECTOR of the EU agency for the security of external borders, Aija Kalna, reports AFP.

“We have to prepare for refugees coming from other countries because of food security,” she said at a meeting of EU interior ministers. Kalnaia stressed that "transportation of grain from Ukraine is difficult, and this will create waves of migration."

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, in turn, pointed out that food shortages, as well as a sharp increase in energy prices, create security risks that will force people to leave their home countries.

Johanson added that the European Union is trying to prevent this, and for this it is important to work with partner states.

Earlier, on June 22, El Pais reported that the EU had prepared a report on the social, political and economic consequences of the Russian special operation in Ukraine for third world countries.

The EU warned of the risk of "catastrophic famine" in North African countries and "new waves of social protests", as well as internal migration and migration to neighboring regions and the EU.

According to the document, Spain and Italy will take the main "migration" blow.

The European Union has already begun to provide urgent support to a number of African and Middle Eastern countries - it has allocated more than €225 million to Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco and Palestine.

At the end of May, Maurizio Martina, vice director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), warned that due to military actions in Ukraine, the number of hungry people in the world would increase by 18 million and reach 218 million.

Western countries blame Russia for the food shortage, arguing that it has blocked ports in Ukraine that have accumulated grain and is preventing its EXPORT.

Moscow denies the accusations. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the risk of famine in the poorest countries was provoked by Western countries, due to the actions of which there was a shortage of fertilizers, which, in turn, led to a decrease in crop yields.