A Syrian refugee hangs clothes to dry at a camp in Islahiye, Gaziantep province, southeastern Turkey, on 16 March 2016. Lefteris Pitarakis/Press Association. All rights reserved.
As part of its ongoing crackdown on migrant arrivals, the European Union is now looking beyond Turkey to origin and transit countries across Africa and the Middle East. At the end of June, the EU Council endorsed a new partnership framework put forward by the Commission, to negotiate direct agreements with third countries as part of the European Agenda on Migration. This proposal is problematic in both its priorities and its choice of partners, but there is still hope for the EU to consider more welcoming alternatives.
Implications of the EU-Turkey deal
Although the EU has proclaimed its deal with Turkey a success because of the dramatic decrease in migrant arrivals to Greece, until now it has not addressed the parallel increase in migrant arrivals across the Mediterranean to Italy. The EU-Turkey deal and strict border controls do not serve as a deterrent to those forced to migrate; this has only shifted the most frequented routes and precipitated the emergence of riskier border crossing strategies. Now, more migrants come across the Horn of Africa or through West Africa, convening in Libya before attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing that has already claimed at least 2,859 lives this year.
