EU member states have pledged an additional €78 million to a trust fund for migration set up yesterday at the Valletta Summit on Migration.
The pledges will top up the €1.8 billion set aside by the European Commission for an emergency fund that will be used to finance repatriation of failed asylum seekers and development projects in Africa.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat acknowledged the fund was not big enough but described the initiative “a tremendous step forward”. Malta has pledged €250,000, which on a per capita basis works out at 14 times more than Germany, which has pledged €3 million.
But the list also highlights the differences within the EU as most eastern European countries pledged amounts as low as €50,000.
The fund is one of several initiatives outlined in an action plan agreed between EU and African leaders at the end of the two-day summit. Dr Muscat admitted the EU was riven by internal divisions on how to handle the migration crisis but proclaimed himself a “proud European” because the bloc was the only group of countries trying to do something tangible.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said the erection of fences and the introduction of tighter border controls by some in the EU signalled the huge pressure the crisis was placing on member states.
He acknowledged that “saving Schengen was a race against time” as individual member states took unilateral measures to stem migrant flows.
“We are determined to win the race and that includes restoring effective external border controls and more cooperation with countries of transit,” he said.
But Karl Schembri, Middle East media advisor with the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the trust fund amount was a pittance. “It will do very little to address Africa’s vast development needs… and even that little might end up diverted for security purposes instead of for schools, health care and jobs.”
He urged all the European and African leaders to follow their promises of collaboration on migration with policies that “protect people before borders”.
The Valletta Summit on Migration was followed by an informal meeting of the EU leaders that discussed another emergency summit, to be held in Turkey in the coming weeks.