EU cuts R27bn deal with Africa on crisis
EUROPEAN union leaders on Thursday struck an aid-for-cooperation deal with Africa and proposed a summit this year with Turkey in a two-front push with wary partners to tackle an unprecedented migrant crisis.
Meeting with their African counterparts in Malta, the leaders approved a billion (R27.7-billion) plan to fight poverty in Africa while accelerating the repatriation of failed asylumseekers.
President Jean-Claude Juncker said his European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, would offer million (R7.70billion) to Turkey and urged member states to come up with a further
billion (R38.5-billion) to help Turkey cope with millions of asylum seekers, most from Syria.
The announcements marked a push by the EU to regain control of its southern and eastern borders, which roughly 800 000 asylum seekers have crossed this year.
The bulk have come via Turkey, but the EU sees the problems in Africa driving migration as long-term.
“We have decided that we will have the summit with Turkey,” EU Council president Donald Tusk told a press conference in a new bid to court President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who last month dismissed EU overtures for cooperation as insufficient.
Tusk said it was “99% sure” the summit would take place by the end of this month, while French President Francois Hollande told reporters it could take place “at the end of November or beginning of December”.
Tusk said the migratory pressures on governments left the bloc’s visafree Schengen zone facing collapse after Sweden reinstated temporary border controls and Slovenia rolled out razor-wire, the latest EU nations to put up barriers to asylum seekers.
Juncker also criticised states for dragging their feet on a controversial plan agreed in September to relocate 160 000 migrants from hard-pressed frontline states.
The EU-Africa action plan is to be underpinned by billion (R27.73billion) of initial EU funding for an “Emergency Trust Fund” to finance development projects designed to address the root causes of migratory pressures.
These include poverty, conflict, repressive governance and the unsafe conditions endured by millions across Africa.
The money comes from the EU’s collective budget and the bloc’s member states have been asked to match it with contributions of their own.
Senegal President Macky Sall claimed African governments would have no need of aid if they could collect
billion (R924-billion) lost through tax avoidance by multinationals and other “fraudulent” activities.
In a nod to African fears of a “fortress Europe” pulling up the drawbridge, Thursday’s deal calls for more opportunities for legal migration. But only a scheme to expand scholarships for students and academics to come to Europe was agreed to. — AFP