Brussels, 15/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Concerned at the increase in arrivals of migrants to its shores from North Africa, Italy has suggested beefing up the external plank of the European response to the migration challenge, taking inspiration from the experience gained from the EU/Turkey agreement, which it describes as innovative.
The EU/Turkey agreement on migration is a “first attempt to initiate large-scale cooperation with a third country” and proves that it is possible to carry out effective actions in the management of migration flows. “We believe that such an agreement should not be an isolated event”, the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, said in a letter sent on Friday 15 April to the European leaders, of which EUROPE has had sight. The 'migration compact' Italy is calling for combines EU provision of financial and operational support with specific commitments on the part of third countries, such as “effective border controls, reduction of flows to Europe, cooperation on returns/readmissions and strengthening the fight against trafficking in human beings”.
In its non-paper, Rome proposes first of all to identify “key partner countries” to work with on the migration issue. No African country is referred to by name except Libya, a transit country for mainly 'economic' migrants and the stabilisation of which constitutes a “strategic priority” for the Italian authorities. These feel that the operation EUNAVFOR Med Sophia, which aims to fight smugglers of migrants in the Mediterranean, should be reinforced “once the conditions are met”. The possibility of extending the mandate of this operation to the territorial waters of Libya is to be discussed by the 'Foreign Affairs' Council on Monday 18 April, as was hinted by the High Representative of the EU, Federica Mogherini, during her visit to the command centre of the naval operation on Friday.
Under the 'migration compact' put forward by Italy, the EU's commitment to African third countries would be many in number: cooperation in the field of security (management of migratory flows, support for the legal system), creating opportunities for legal migration to the EU, resettlement schemes for third countries establishing national asylum regimes, financing of high-social impact investment projects, the creation of innovative financial instruments ('EU-Africa bonds').
In exchange, the EU would ask the third countries to undertake to carry out effective border controls to reduce migration flows to Europe. The identification of migrants eligible for international protection and so-called 'economic' migrants should be done as early as possible, with the support of European agents based in the third countries. These would cooperate in the framework of returns and readmission policies for 'economic' migrants from the EU to the third countries of transit and from these to the countries of origin. Finally, the third countries would establish national asylum regimes.
All of these measures would be paid for out of specific instruments under the EU budget and/or the issuance of financial securities ('Common EU migration Bonds'). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Camille-Cerise Gessant)