French president Emmanuel Macron welcomes the African leaders of Chad, Niger and Libya in Paris. On Monday, the summit with African leaders and the European counterparts starts.
France and other EU countries like Germany, Spain and Italy are ready for the talks focused on cutting illegal migration to Europe. France hosts the annual meeting of France’s ambassadors in Paris, on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron will speak at the summit, laying out his priorities for the coming year in front of 200 envoys.
“Macron has made a successful entrance on the international scene in terms of style, and style is important in international affairs,”
said former diplomat Michel Duclos, stressing that Paris talks involve leaders from Chad, Niger and Libya – major transit countries for migrants, who risk their lives trying to reach the safe Europe.
Macron’s vision of the easing the influx
Emmanuel Macron is going to ease the influx, the 39-year-old centrist wants to see asylum requests handled in Africa. In 2015, the EU pledged €1.8bn for initiatives to help African countries stem the flow of migrants to Europe.
In that initial plan, the EU countries were trying to beef up border surveillance along migrant routes and schemes to create jobs for impoverished communities. But the focus of short-term efforts is to shift the processing of asylum claims to offices in Africa.
In 2017, the migrant crisis is still an actual issue not only for France but for Italy, Germany and Spain. According to UN International Organization for Migration, more than 2,000 of 100, 000 migrants have died on sea route from Africa to Europe.
