Immigration: a deal from Brussels

As the June elections approach, the European Union is flexing its muscles on immigration. In March, it established a partnership with Egypt: more than seven billion euros promised in return for commitments to help control immigration in the Mediterranean. “Given your strategic position in an unstable environment,” explained the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to Marshal Abdel Fattah Al Sissi.

It was an approach advocated in particular by the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, elected largely on the promise of reducing the “draft” that European prosperity would exert on migrants from the Global South. It was in his company that Ursula von der Leyen concluded, in the summer of 2023, a similar agreement with the Tunisian president, Kaïs Saïed, who distinguished himself by a repressive policy against sub-Saharan migrants, sending some back to the gates. of the desert. The President of the Commission was in Mauritania in February, to monitor the Canary Islands migration route, and hopes to find an agreement with Morocco.

Already in 2016, to reduce the influx of Syrians, Brussels had entered into a historic agreement with Ankara to better retain them in Turkey, in exchange for a substantial financial envelope.

While the future Pact on Migration and Asylum provides for an outsourcing of asylum applications, The European Union is aware that the migration issue will weigh heavily during the renewal of Parliament. She thus hopes to stem the surge of the sovereignists.

Will these partner states respect the rights of migrants, when nothing dissuades a desperate refugee from attempting the last chance crossing to Europe? What guarantees does Europe receive? What control for departures from the Libyan coast?

Agreement with Egypt reflects European apprehension on the repercussions of the wars in Sudan and Gaza, Egypt's neighbors. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Sudanese want to flee the civil war. As for the Gazans, they could see themselves forced into a new exodus. First destination, Europe.