“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?

Main findings:

• More than 250 projects were initiated in the framework of EUTF. The highest-funded EUTF project (€107 million) has focused on state-building in Somalia.
• The EUTF had several objectives, but almost a quarter of the funds – the largest share – went into migration management. Only 10% of the funds were allocated to the creation of jobs and economic development.
• Though an initial stated intent of the EUTF was to also support more legal pathways for Africans to EU countries, the fund ultimately focused mainly on irregular migration.
• The EU border agency, Frontex, has registered a decrease in crossings by citizens of EUTF recipient countries since 2015, but this tracked with similar drops in numbers for citizens of all African countries. Overall, the EUTF does not seem to have had a measurable impact on migratory movements toward the EU.
• The EUTF was set up as an emergency tool to react to migration and assign projects quickly and flexibly – but the root causes of displacement and migration cannot adequately be addressed by an instrument designed to tackle problems in the short term.
• EU member states have contributed to the EUTF in different ways. Germany was the biggest state contributor.

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