![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Migrant-boat.jpg\")
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The European commission<\/strong><\/span><\/a> has declared the migration crisis over, as it sharpened its attack on \u201cfake news\u201d and \u201cmisinformation\u201d about the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n Frans Timmermans, the European commission\u2019s first vice-president, said: \u201cEurope is no longer experiencing the migration crisis we lived in 2015, but structural problems remain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In 2018, 116,647 people were counted by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, as crossing the Mediterranean, an 89% reduction on those who made the journey in 2015, at the height of the crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n While the trend is not new, the commission\u2019s latest progress report on Wednesday suggested a tougher approach to public relations, as Brussels hit out against \u201cmyths\u201d and \u201cuntruths\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n The robust language follows angry exchanges<\/a><\/strong><\/span> between Brussels and the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who has turned migration into an electoral issue.<\/span><\/p>\n Hungarian government poster depicting George Soros presumably giving instructions and Jean-Claude Juncker saying “Yeah, yeah”. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n The Hungarian government last month launched a poster campaign, based on misleading claims about migration, featuring the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and the Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros.<\/span><\/p>\n Using unusually combative language, the commission issued a factsheet debunking 15 \u201cmyths\u201d about migration. Top of its list is that Europe<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is \u201cno longer in crisis mode\u201d over migration, while it also took apart demagogic stereotypes that migrants carry disease or burden economies.<\/span><\/p>\n Brussels acknowledged \u201ckey problems in Greece\u201d remain unresolved, with 4,000 people in overflowing, squalid camp<\/strong><\/span><\/a> on the island of Samos. Privately, officials are exasperated at what they see as Greece\u2019s poor management<\/strong><\/span><\/a> of EU funds.<\/span><\/p>\n With Spain now the main entry point<\/strong><\/span><\/a> into the EU, the commission said one of its priorities was working with Morocco via a \u20ac140m (\u00a3120m) border control programme. So far, African coastal states have spurned the EU\u2019s attempts to take part in policies that would give them greater responsibility to process asylum claims of people rescued at sea.<\/span><\/p>\n The commission also sought to counter criticism of EU policies<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to deter would-be migrants from leaving African countries. The EU has created a \u20ac3.9bn fund to pay for economic development and border-management projects in 27 African countries. Rejecting claims that these funds go to authoritarian regimes, the EU said almost 90% of the money went to NGOs or UN agencies.<\/span><\/p>\n Campaign groups have accused the EU of turning a blind eye to suffering of migrants in detention centres, where they face threats of violence.<\/span><\/p>\n Under EU policy, people rescued at sea by European boats cannot be returned to Libya. The EU trains the Libyan coastguard, which intercepts and returns migrants to the war-torn country, a practice described as \u201cinhuman<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a> by the UN high commissioner for human rights.<\/span><\/p>\n In its statement, the commission said it was \u201cworking tirelessly to evacuate migrants from Libya\u201d and stopping arbitrary detention was a priority. About 37,000 people had received help from the UNHCR and the UN\u2019s International Organisation for Migration<\/a> to leave Libya and return to their country of origin.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Hungarian-government-poster-depicting-George-Soros-and-Jean-Claude-Juncker-768x432.jpg\")