Press Release
European Commission - Speech - Remarks by Commissioner Avramopoulos at the launch of the European Migrant Smuggling Centre
The Hague, 22 February 2016
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are gathered at a critical moment here today.
It is already commonly known that more than a million desperate people have entered in the EU in 2015 – risking their lives throughout the entire itinerary of the process. Many of those have used smuggling networks to come here.
In a crisis like today, which affects the war-torn countries of origin, the people looking for safety, but also the host societies and their citizens, we have a rising and increasingly developed criminal network, which not only abuses this crisis and the vulnerability of people, but also makes huge profits.




