Mediterranean centres no quick fix to EU migration challenge - U.N. agency

FILE PHOTO: Migrant women and a child, part of a group intercepted aboard a dinghy off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea, are seen after arriving on a rescue boat at the port of Motril, Spain June 22, 2018. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Planned new centres around the Mediterranean to handle migrants will be no silver bullet solution to the European Union's immigration challenge, says a U.N. agency of the idea it will be asked to implement.

Irregular migration across the sea has been dramatically reduced, and only about 45,000 people have made it to Europe that way this year. But the hot-button issue is driving the EU's political agenda.