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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL IMMIGRATION: THE MEDITERRANEAN PERSPECTIVE
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that renders it less effective. Despite this, the
ICMPD makes it easier for the Commission on
Migration and Home Affairs to manage a budg-
et of 380 million euros.
The most recent progress in this dialogue oc-
curred in October 2014 in Rome, when the
countries of Central Africa, West Africa, the
Maghreb and the EU, together with Switzerland,
Norway, the Commission and the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
approved the Rome Programme (2015–2017)
setting out very specific lines of intervention.
This document sets out the commitment to en-
suring the continuity of the goals of the Dakar
Strategy. In particular, it stresses the need to
maintain a balanced dialogue that addresses
the three existing pillars of the Process: organ-
izing legal migration; combating irregular mi-
gration; and strengthening the synergies be-
tween migration and development. In addition,
a fourth pillar was added relating to interna-
tional protection, as established in the EU’s
Global Approach to Migration and Mobility
(GAMM). This was a consequence of the large
numbers of immigrants and refugees who
reached Italy, Greece, Spain and Malta by sea
during the first half of 2014. Based on data
from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), over
800 people died or disappeared in the
Mediterranean during 2014 while attempting
to reach Europe. This figure is higher than the
corresponding figures for 2013 (600) and 2012
(500). The situation in the Mediterranean has
intensified, as a result of which it has become
the region where the issue of migration is most
in need of attention within the EU.
Adapting to the new scenarios and
challenges of the migration phenomenon
Faced with the quantitative growth in seaborne
migration and the rise in the number of migrants
from countries at war, the EU faces two pressing
challenges: to offer an alternative to the danger-
ous journeys by sea that have characterized the
last year; and to guarantee rapid access to asy-
lum procedures for people who need protection.
For this reason, the Common European Asylum
System (CEAS)
2
is a key element in ensuring that
the EU is truly a space for the protection of peo-
ple in very vulnerable situations. Special atten-
tion also needs to be paid to the situation of
women on these migration routes. It has been
estimated that around 60 per cent of them suf-
fer some kind of violence on their journey, but
this goes unreported because victims fear being
returned to their countries of origin, thus rein-
forcing the impunity of their attackers. In gen-
eral, the strategy adopted in Rome needs to be
adapted in order to take into account the situa-
tion in each participating country, so that it re-
flects the reality on the ground.
The innovative element of the dialogue be-
tween the EU and Africa with regard to migra-
tion issues is the Khartoum Process, which forms
part of the EU Initiative for migration routes
from the Horn of Africa. This new Process is de-
signed to establish a permanent dialogue with
the countries of origin and transit for migration
routes that until now have received scant atten-
tion at the European level. The goal is to estab-
lish a political process relating to migration that
2
European Commission.
A Common European Asylum
System.
Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European
Union, 2014. Available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/docs/ceas-fact-sheets/ceas_factsheet_
en.pdf