"We are under no illusions that we can improve the situation overnight. But we are committed to giving people alternatives to risking their lives," said former European Council President Donald Tusk at the Valletta migration summit in November 2015. Back then, large numbers of irregular migrants were reaching Europe’s borders, and the EU was eager to prevent a repeat. So, in collaboration with several African partners, it launched the EU's Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF for Africa), intended to finance projects that would “address the root causes of migration”, fight against irregular migration and promote the return and reintegration of migrants.
Six years after the creation of the EUTF for Africa, some €5 billion have been invested and 250 projects have been financed. What have these projects achieved? And above all, were the European intentions in line with the unique issues that African societies face?
Gianna-Carina Grün (Deutsche Welle, coordinator)
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Fight irregular migration, return and reintegrate migrants, create more legal pathways to the EU: The European Union set high goals with its Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. DW examines whether the EUTF achieved them.
EU development programs such as the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa prioritize curbing migration over fostering development, critics say. How does the EUTF square with the stated aims of the European Union's aid policies?
Germany is the biggest state donor to the European Union's Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, which was established in 2015 to curb irregular migration to the EU. Where did that money go? And what comes next?
As 2021 drew to a close, so too did the EUTF project, a “trust fund for Africa” created by the EU in order to address the causes of illegal immigration. Analysis shows that a large proportion of this funding was dedicated to border externalisation.
Launched in November 2015, the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) was intended to promote stability and fight against “the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons”. Five billion euros have been approved for 250 projects in 26 African countries. But what results has the fund produced?
You can find the data, documents and code behind this investigation in our GitHub repository