PREVIEW
Rabat is latest country to formalise arrangements with Brussels
European Union and Moroccan officials are working on a ‘cash for migrant control’ deal that would place border management at the heart of their relationship. At a press conference on 17 July unveiling the EU’s Global Europe financing instrument, Dubravka Šuica, the Commissioner for Democracy and Demography, highlighted Morocco as a priority ally (AC Vol 66 No 2, Accentuate the innovative).
‘We already have partnerships with many of them and are trying to strengthen them all. Currently, we are collaborating with Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan. We are working on deepening our partnership with Morocco and will also begin working with Lebanon,’ Šuica said.
On 16 July, Rabat’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita met the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas in Brussels. Though no timeline has been given for concluding an agreement, it is likely to be before the end of this year.
Similar EU migration deals with Egypt, Mauritania and Tunisia are worth over US$9.2 billion (€8bn, AC Vol 65 No 7, Fearing a regional meltdown, Brussels pays Egypt $7.4 billion). But despite being a major recipient of EU funding for border and migration control, Morocco does not yet have a formal arrangement with Brussels.
The European Commission unveiled plans for a seven-year spending plan worth €2 trillion between 2028 and 2034, a hefty increase. That includes €215bn to Global Europe and a plan to double the funding for the Middle East and North Africa region to €42.5bn. Both figures also represent major increases. A group of 30 civil society organisations described the proposal as a ‘forward-looking vision for the EU’s role in the world’.
However, it is not clear how much extra spending will be allocated to migration control and whether the EU will increase development funding.
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