Money spent by the European Union (EU) on migration policies is becoming increasingly complex to track, Euronews reports. The EU's strategy of externalization, aimed at managing migration flows, has created a web of funds that are difficult to follow, as highlighted by a memorandum of understanding set to be signed between the European Commission and the Tunisian government.
Under the agreement, a financial package of €105mn will be allocated for various purposes, including border management, search, and rescue operations, anti-smuggling activities, and the repatriation of migrants. While this kind of cooperation is not new and has been endorsed by EU leaders, the lack of transparency and accountability in tracking the funds has raised concerns.
In addition to the €6bn designated for Turkey since 2016, substantial amounts have been allocated to other countries. This includes €60mn for a new Western Balkans migration package, €120mn to Egypt, and €152mn to Morocco. However, it is not only neighboring countries that receive funding. Nigeria, for example, received €28.4mn as “support to migration government”, Bangladesh €55mn, and Pakistan €59mn, for various programs, including the reintegration of their nationals returning from Europe.
Sergio Carrera, a senior researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), expressed concerns about the lack of transparency and the complexity of the funding landscape.
"There is a large, fragmented, and hypercomplex landscape of funds the EU puts into practice to finance migration management-related priorities. You have the AMIF (Asylum and Migration Fund), which is a Home Affairs fund, but you also have neighborhood and development funds. The picture makes it fundamentally impossible for anyone to really understand what the EU was funding where,” Carrera explained
Carrera also highlighted the potential impact of these funds on human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. This concern is particularly relevant in the case of Libya, where the EU's Support for Integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya (SIBMMIL) mission has been heavily criticized. The mission, worth up to €59mn, involves providing vessels for search and rescue operations and training for the Libyan Coast Guard, a group accused of human rights violations by various associations and a fact-finding UN mission.
Dutch Green MEP Tineke Strik also emphasized the troubling findings of the UN fact-finding mission report.
“The Libyan coast guard and other state-led entities funded by the EU are deeply involved in crimes against humanity. They are involved in smuggling and trafficking and slavery. They keep the people detained. They torture them to push family members to pay them," Tineke Strik stated.
Strik further noted that the EU's funding indirectly contributes to these crimes against humanity.
The European Commission has also committed €40mn to combat criminal networks involved in smuggling in northern Africa. However, careful monitoring of the recipients of this funding will be necessary to ensure its effective use.
As the complexity of the EU's migration policy funding increases, experts and policymakers are calling for greater transparency, accountability, and scrutiny of how these funds are allocated and utilized.
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