EU and leaders from Africa are gathering in La Valletta, the capital of Malta, the tiny island state in the heart of the Mediterranean sea to tackle the migration crisis. In the meantime Sweden, overwhelmed by the flow of illegal migrants and refugees, decided to temporarily reintroduce controls on the border.
There are doubts that the leaders from both continents will be able to reach tangible results. Positively the Europeans are looking at the migration crisis from the roots causes and they are aware that the solution to the current flow of migrants lies in measures to fight poverty, inequalities and build responsive institutions in the countries of origin. Even more interesting is that the summit is part of ongoing bi-lateral relationships between EU and Africa rather than just an emergency summit focused on immigration. True that immigration will take the center stage during the negotiations but the aims of the summit are much broader.
The comprehensiveness of the summit’s agenda reflects the wide scope of the conversations:
Discussions among participants will focus on five specific areas:
- addressing the root causes by working to help create peace, stability and economic development
- improving work on promoting and organising legal migration channels
- enhancing the protection of migrants and asylum seekers, particularly vulnerable groups
- tackling more effectively the exploitation and trafficking of migrants
- working more closely to improve cooperation on return and readmission
The Europeans want to reach an agreement with their African counterparts on resettlement of those migrants who will be turned down and sent back to the countries of origin. Obviously as the recent negotiations with Turkey showed, this is not an easy task.
Donald Tusk in a tweet said: “Voluntary return always preferable. But when not possible, non-voluntary return is pre-requisite for well-managed migration policy”
So far only Capo Verde off the costs of western Africa signed such repatriation agreement with EU. Angela Markel said that one of the goals of the summit is to fight illegal migration.
The Europeans are proposing a 1.8 billion euro ($1.95 billion) into a new "Trust Fund for Africa” that will fight poverty, malnutrition and enhance human development. Surely this will not be a game changer and it is not surprising that international NGO like Oxfam are criticizing the entire idea of dealing with autocratic/authoritarian regimes who will handle the money.
A case of extreme concern is Eritrea with one of the most isolated and despotic regime in the world, probably second only to North Korea: it is therefore not surprising that amid a tight control over their freedoms, thousands of Eritrean risk their lives to escape the regime (recently Eritrean football players from the national team were granted asylum in Botswana that they were visiting for an official qualification game).
In terms of migration, Europeans will try to set up training missions for African border officers.
Ethiopia was recognized as a strategic partner in the fight against illegal migration as it is a key country of origin, transit and destination of irregular migrants and refugees from the Horn of Africa on the route to Europe. For this reason the EU and Ethiopia signed yesterday a joint Declaration for a Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM).
Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, added: “Ethiopia and the European Union are strategic partners for 40 years now, and migration is a common challenge. Among the many bilateral and regional issues we discussed on my visit to Addis Ababa on 20 October, we agreed to boost our cooperation to tackle migrant smuggling and human trafficking, to support the reintegration of returned migrants, to support Ethiopia in its hospitality for refugees from neighbouring countries and to strengthen resilience of most vulnerable communities. The Common Agenda signed today takes EU-Ethiopia cooperation up a level, and will improve the management of migration flows."
The conference will end today and it will be followed by an informal summit of the EU leaders that again will focus on migration.
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