EC to Allocate $9Bln for Partnerships With 3d Countries to Manage Migration

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The EU body is working on bilateral cooperation deals with the Middle Eastern and African countries, depending on whether they are a country of origin, country of transit or country of shelter for refugees with mixed short-term and long-term funding, the Commission noted.

"Starting with a first group of priority third countries, compacts tailored to the circumstances of each of them will mobilise all our policies and tools to achieve these objectives… focusing our resources including through the swift deployment of 8 billion euro over the next five years," EC First Vice-President Frans Timmermans was quoted as saying in the statement.

Brussels will also boost the Trust Fund for Africa with additional 1 billion euro ($1.13 billion) and to raise a long-term 3.1-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) rescue fund for developing countries in emergency, which is expected to reach 31 billion euro ($35 billion) in the coming years.

"The new Partnership approach will make use of a smart mix of short-term resources and long-term financial instruments to deliver immediate results but also address fundamental drivers of migration," the EC statement highlighted.

The EU intends to make partnership deals with Jordan and Lebanon in the short term and to expand the "compacts" cooperation practice on Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Ethiopia as well as Tunisia and Libya in long term.

Since 2015, the European bloc has faced a massive influx of migrants and refugees. More than 1.8 million refugees driven by conflict away from the Middle East are estimated to have arrived in the European Union in 2015, according to the European border agency Frontex.