BRUSSELS, March 13. /TASS/. Some in the European Union fear that the US-Israeli military operation against Iran may trigger a wave of refugees that will put the bloc’s new migration rules to the test, Politico reported.

In 2015-2016, Europe saw an influx of refugees, many of them fleeing the consequences of a conflict in Syria. Back then, border services in Greece, Italy, and Hungary, among other EU countries, received refugees, allowing them to travel onward within the EU which triggered conflicts inside the bloc. Following years of negotiations, the EU approved new migration and asylum rules in 2024.

The US and Israel launched their joint operation on Iran months ahead of the implementation of the Migration and Asylum Pact slated for June. Nicholas Ioannides, deputy migration minister of Cyprus, warned that the EU "cannot overlook the possibility of a new refugee crisis." According to him, such a crisis "might test [the] effectiveness of the bloc’s new rules, and that’s something we need to be prepared for," he told Politico.

Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssel said "a new refugee crisis is not an option" for the EU. "We are still seeing the consequences of what happened 10 years ago. And that’s not just the situation in Sweden, but I would say elsewhere in Europe too," he told Politico.

Not everybody shares his apprehension. Spanish Home Affairs Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska argued that Europe took the influx of refugees in 2015-2016 in stride. "So if it’s necessary, it’s not going to be any kind of problem to receive refugees coming from the East," he maintained.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said no increase in migrants has so far been reported in Europe amid the developments in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said the conflict has displaced roughly 3.2 million people in Iran. Last year, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) warned that even partial destabilization in Iran could trigger unprecedented refugee flows.