European authorities will try to quell the immigration crisis with financial infusions
As reported by "Russkaya Germaniya", more than three and a half billion of the additional allocated amount is intended for projects that provide a strategic solution to problems on the ground, problems that are the root causes of migration. At the same time, about one and a half billion euros will be allocated for projects in the public sector, and the remaining funds will go to private lending.
Overall, the financing limit under the EU guarantee has been increased by almost five and a half billion euros, according to a statement on the EU Council website. The funds will be provided by the European Investment Bank.
In Brussels, they are convinced that it is necessary to act strategically and eliminate not the consequences but the causes of migration. Therefore, the EU has taken care of additional billions of euros for so-called 'external operations' – projects in countries from which the largest number of refugees arrive.
Along with assistance to third countries, Europe is also tightening national laws regulating immigration. For example, in France, a fine of up to 4,000 euros or imprisonment for up to one year is proposed for illegal border crossing. At the same time, it is also proposed to reduce the time for processing applications for refugee status and not allow them to be resubmitted. In addition, an accelerated deportation procedure is provided.
'Procedures must be the same in different European countries, otherwise there is a risk of becoming a country of last resort. If tomorrow you discover 300-400 thousand arriving refugees, you will not be able to accept them. And they will settle in disadvantaged areas,' says the French Minister of the Interior.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), since the beginning of this year, over 10 thousand migrants have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, about half of them in Italy, the other half divided roughly equally between Greece and Spain. In the same period last year, the number of illegal entrants to Europe approached 17 thousand. In 2015, over one million people made this journey.