EU funding for migration: Where does the money really go?

EU funding for migration: Where does the money really go?

A comprehensive analysis of the EU funding shows that they often do not achieve the desired results in migration policy. A project by the Science Fund FWF has been investigating the distribution of these funds and its effectiveness since 2000. The results suggest that political strategies usually aim at short -term solutions. As Kleinezeitung.at, the funding flows to EU member states, third countries, UNO institutions and EU agencies such as Frontex. This often happens to address overarching migration policy challenges, while adapting legislation often only slowly takes place.

A striking increase in asylum applications in 2015 led to a cut in the distribution and use of EU funding. In the current EU budget for the period 2021-2027, a total of 22.7 billion euros were provided for migration, asylum and border protection-more than twice as high as in the 2010s. Despite this increase, the financed measures are tended to be more restrictive, influenced by political pressure. The researcher Federica Zardo emphasizes that it is important to critically analyze these funds. It finds that the risk of money is invested in measures that do not achieve their original goals. So there is no scientific evidence that development aid contains irregular migration. On the contrary, the construction of border fences can even lead to a detour of the migration routes.

The role of the EU Treuhandfonds

The EU has also started to outsource border protection and the fight against causes of flight to third countries. An example of this is the EU Treuhandfonds for Africa (EUTF), which combines border protection measures and development aid. EUTF funds flow into the security apparatus of countries such as Libya who pursue strict immigration policies. Countries such as Hungary and Poland contribute to the financing of the EUTF in order to protect their geopolitical interests, which ignores the urgent need for humanitarian aid and a fairer asylum procedure, such as how scilog.fwf.ac.at notes.

Current challenges in migration policy

With the increase in migrants from Afghanistan after taking over the Taliban, the topic of pushbacks has achieved additional explosiveness at EU boundaries. These illegal, violent rejections of asylum seekers violate EU law and the Geneva Refugee Convention. Countries such as Greece, Poland and Croatia are particularly criticized because they often push migrants back on the border. There is also a worrying trend that twelve EU countries are increasingly demanding physical barriers such as border fences to protect their external borders, which creates a profound imbalance in dealing with refugees, such as [Europaimüchtricht.de] (https://www.europaimüchtricht.de/fluechtling- migration asylum policy).

The pressure on the member states of finding solutions has meant that, for example, the special EU for migration in February 2023 focused on increased foreclosure and faster deportations. Zardo emphasizes that migration is a complex human phenomenon that cannot be addressed with simple solutions.