European Union and African leaders on Thursday ended an acrimonious summit by approving a 1.8-billion-euro plan to stem an unprecedented and politically explosive flow of migrants across the Mediterra
European Union and African leaders on Thursday ended an acrimonious summit by approving a 1.8-billion-euro plan to stem an unprecedented and politically explosive flow of migrants across the Mediterranean.
Two days of often sharp exchanges in Malta concluded with the adoption of a controversial scheme to accelerate the repatriation of failed asylum-seekers, despite openly-expressed misgivings on the African side.
In a reflection of the mood, Senegal President Macky Sall used the closing press conference to take a swipe at Western neo-colonialism, claiming African governments would have no need of aid if they could collect 60 billion euros lost through multinational tax avoidance and other “fraudulent” outflows.
In a nod to African fears of a “fortress Europe” drawing up the drawbridge, Thursday’s deal calls for more opportunities for legal migration. But the only concrete step agreed was a scheme to expand scholarships for students and academics to come to Europe.
The action plan is to be underpinned by 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) of initial EU funding for an “emergency trust fund” which will provide finance for development projects designed to address the root causes of migratory pressures including poverty, conflict, repressive governance and the unsafe conditions endured by the millions of people displaced across Africa.
The money is coming from the EU’s collective budget and the bloc’s 28 member states have been asked to match it with contributions of their own.
The national pledges to date however have totalled just 78.2 million euros, in an underwhelming response that officials in Brussels partly blame on populist pressure on governments to be seen taking a tough line on the migrant issue.
EU council president Donald Tusk said the pressures on governments had left the bloc’s border-free Schengen accords on the brink of collapse.
Meanwhile, EU countries have provided the bloc’s Frontex border agency with less than half the personnel it has requested to deal with a record influx of migrants, the agency’s deputy head said in an interview published on Thursday.
“Despite reiterating the request (for more personnel), including through the European Commission, up until now member states have only committed 40 per cent of the requested resources,” Gil Arias told Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
