This is the world’s deadliest border:
The Mediterranean Sea.
Thousands die here every year
trying to cross from North Africa
to Europe.
The European Union is claiming...
but people are drowning
on its doorstep.
We call this “politics of letting die.”
The EU is struggling to
deal with migration.
With severe consequences.
We will show you where Europe
is creating walls,
how the continent is
losing its values on the way,
and who is profiting.
This is the Italian island of Lampedusa.
A place for tourists to relax.
But also home to scenes like these:
overcrowded boats
arriving from Africa.
Because Lampedusa is
closer to Africa than it is
to the rest of Europe.
And it’s the main destination of
the deadliest migration routes
in the world.
Since 2014,
almost 30,000 people have died
or gone missing
while trying to
cross the Mediterranean.
So, why are so many people taking this risk?
Some are fleeing wars
and persecution.
They have the legal right
to apply for asylum.
But to do so, asylum seekers
have to be on EU territory.
Others are migrating
because they are escaping poverty,
which is not
a legal basis to
claim asylum in the EU.
Neither group is usually eligible
for a visa to enter the EU.
That's why many take
these irregular migration routes.
And are ready to risk their lives.
We have not, in a really sensible and
serious manner, tried to end this and
tried to prevent this.
We call this “politics of letting die.”
It's not actively killing people.
You don't even have to touch them,
but you just have to let them die by
not providing help in a
reasonable amount of time.
That’s Austrian researcher,
Judith Kohlenberger.
She focuses on the EU’s asylum policy and migration.
The EU and its member states’
coast guards have saved many
people in distress.
But critics say the EU isn’t doing enough to protect
refugees and migrants.
And there have even been reports
of Greek coast guards illegally
pushing boats out of EU waters.
The EU has pledged to protect refugees under
international treaties.
In 2023 alone, just over
1 million people applied
for asylum in EU countries.
But many have no chance
of being granted asylum.
And most EU countries say
too many people are coming.
We have our international
obligations, we will fulfill them.
We have done that in the past,
we do this now.
But we, as Europeans,
will decide who comes to Europe
and under what circumstances.
And not the smugglers
and traffickers.
For human smugglers and
traffickers irregular migration
to the EU is big business.
They can charge thousands of
euros per person for the journey—
forcing as many people as
possible onto unfit boats.
In 2023, in Italy alone more than
150,000 people arrived by sea.
These are the top
5 countries they came from.
And as we saw, many of them
entered Italy through Lampedusa.
But just look at how
small the island is.
It has around 6,000 residents.
More than twice that number of
migrants and refugees arrived in
just one week in September 2023,
putting a huge strain on the island’s infrastructure.
And creating discontent among
Lampedusa residents who have
experienced this time and again.
This is Giorgia Meloni –
Italy's far-right leader who
was largely elected because
of her anti-migration stance.
The chaos in Lampedusa is the perfect background for her message:
Meloni is among those profiting from the chaos.
As are many other populist
politicians in the EU,
says migration researcher
Judith Kohlenberger.
They need the problem
and they need this issue
of unresolved migration,
migration crisis, one after the other, etcetera, etcetera.
Because this is a politics of fear that is being played.
And it’s been playing out for Meloni
and others who demand this:
Even EU countries that took in
a lot of refugees
are joining that demand.
In 2014, only very little of the
EU external border was fenced.
Now there’s six times as much to keep people out.
And even more fences are in the works.
Most experts say border reinforcements are not
a surefire method to prevent irregular migration.
Fortified borders do not prevent people from making their way to
Europe in the first place, because they do not touch upon
the reasons for migration.
So, what happens in reality is that migration pathways are being
redirected very often to even more dangerous routes.
We’ve seen that here:
in the Balkans.
Many who fled the war in Syria
used these routes from Turkey to
enter the EU.
But in 2015,
Hungary tried to prevent people
passing through its territory.
The country’s prime minister is
known for his right-wing rhetoric.
In 2015, Hungary started building
this fence along its
border with Serbia.
But people found other ways to migrate to the EU.
It also means that smugglers can raise their prices because they can
use this as an argument because borders are so difficult to cross.
This brings us back to Lampedusa.
One of the main destinations for migrants and refugees right now.
A fence obviously cannot work in the open water.
So, the EU is going for another strategy.
Most of the boats
that arrive here in Lampedusa
depart from Tunisia—
about 200 km away.
In summer 2023, Giorgia Meloni
joined European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen
on a trip to Tunisia.
We are here as Team Europe.
And “Team Europe” wants Tunisia to stop migrants from
leaving its shores.
In return, Tunisia was offered a lot of money, a package of up to 1
billion euros in investments, including around 100 million
for border security.
We both have a vast interest in
breaking the cynical business model
of smugglers and traffickers.
It is horrible to see how
they deliberately risk
human lives for profit.
So we will work together on
an anti-smuggling operational
partnership and we will support
Tunisia with border management.
...
The objective is to have a holistic approach to migration policy, rooted
in the respect for human rights.
But it’s human rights that make this deal highly controversial.
Look at who the EU
is making the deal with:
President Kais Saied who not
only cracked down
on Tunisia’s opposition,
but on migrants, too.
This is Romdhane Ben Amor, he works for Tunisia’s leading rights group
that monitors the situation of migrants and refugees.
He says that with the help of the EU, Tunisia ramped up its naval control.
It helped them stop 80,000 migrants and refugees on their way to Europe.
Hundreds of other people waiting to depart were allegedly driven outside
the town of Sfax, and are still living there in miserable conditions.
And the EU partnered up with
other autocratic leaders to
essentially keep migrants and
refugees from coming.
And apart from billions of euros,
these leaders also received
something else: leverage.
Europe becomes liable to blackmail
from these third countries because it
clearly shows to the world there is
nothing that Europe is more afraid of
than the arrival of refugees.
Take Turkey and the EU’s most prominent migration deal.
Since 2016, the country has
received up to 9 billion Euros for
essentially preventing migrants
and refugees from entering the EU.
But look what happened in 2020:
Turkey reopened its border with
Greece, and let migrants and
refugees move towards the EU.
Greek border police
used force to control the crowds.
Two deaths and thousands
of injuries were reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
had essentially used human beings as
leverage—trying to pressure the EU for even more money.
With a new migration pact
the EU is now planning to even
further outsource enforcement.
For example, with centers at EU
external borders where
asylum seekers can be held.
Critics say the pact is
a betrayal of EU values.
And as we’ve seen, the bloc has already been willing to
compromise its values.
While populists, human traffickers
and autocrats are profiting.
And experts agree:
none of the measures
will stop people from
trying to get to Europe,
even at the cost
of their own lives.