#Migration: EU says it can effectively deal with current and future migratory challenges

Following a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, said that a strong, ambitious and well-coordinated approach can effectively deal with the current and future migratory challenges. The Council said that this will require effective use of all relevant EU tools and instruments as well as adequate financing.

The discussion followed a debate by ministers for development on 12 May, where development ministers reviewed the implementation of the Valletta action plan, six months after its adoption. The ministers took note of the state of play of the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa where projects worth more than EUR 750 million in support of the Sahel and Lake Chad regions, as well as the Horn of Africa have already been approved.

The Council welcomed innovative proposals by all Member States, including the 'Migration Compact' proposed by Italy. Italy’s proposal included the idea of “Common EU Migration Bonds" to be issued to fund the countries that host migrants.

The Council said it will also look into the proposal by Hungary on "Schengen 2.0”. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that the European Commission’s proposal for management of the migration crisis is wrong-headed and that “it is not acceptable – as would be the case under the Commission’s proposal – for someone in Brussels to decide that the countries of the EU must solve their demographic and economic problems through immigration”. Orbán has been trying to garner support from the Visegrád countries.

There will be further support for Libya to stop the migratory flow to Europe.  The High Representative said that the EU is responding to a request by the Libyan Government of National Accord on a comprehensive approach to manage migration, which includes the fight against smugglers and traffickers, as well as capacity building and training of Libya's coastguard.

The Council reiterated its call for pledges to be disbursed promptly and  for the EU Compacts for Jordan and Lebanon to be finalised to enhance support to refugees and host communities in both countries.

The Council also welcomes the work done on the Eastern Mediterranean route to manage the large refugee and irregular migration flows along the Western Balkans route and underlined the importance of further close cooperation with Turkey.

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