Commission reports on first deliverables under the Partnership Framework on migration with third countries

EU News 410/2016

Brussels, 14 December 2016

Concrete progress has been made under the Partnership Framework with third countries on migration, as presented in the second progress report today by the European Commission. The partnerships between the European Union and its Member States' and with the five priority countries, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal have been deepened and further developed.

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Over the last months, 20 high level visits by the HR/VP, a number of EU Commissioners and Member States' ministers took place, backed by several missions at technical level. Financial assistance to support the objectives of the Valletta Action Plan has been stepped up, with an additional €500 million added to the EU Trust Fund for Africa. This brings its worth to almost €2.5 billion. To date, 64 programmes, worth approximately EUR 1 billion have already been approved under the EU Trust Fund for Africa. To increase the impact of other instruments, EUR 726.7 million will be added to the EU budget in 2017 to further support the development actions in the external dimension of migration.

Results in the priority countries are taking shape, including first decreases in migratory flows. In Niger, the number of people crossing the desert has dropped from 70,000 in May to 1,500 in November. In addition,102 smugglers have been sent to justice and 95 vehicles have been seized. 4430 irregular migrants have been repatriated with the assistance of IOM and around 2700 irregular migrants from the priority countries have been returned from the EU to their respective countries of origin. European Migration Liaison Officers will be deployed to all five priority countries in early 2017. In parallel, 1165 mobility actions under the Erasmus+ framework have been financed with the priority countries to strengthen legal and regular migration channels.

Source and additional information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-4381_en.htm

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