• Home /
• Outsourcing Borders: Monitoring EU externalisation policy /
• Bulletin 10 /
• Migration partnerships

Migration partnerships

Ethiopia and Somalia: documents outline EU and member state priorities /// Presidency report card on Central Mediterranean /// Presidency report card on Western Mediterranean and Atlantic routes /// Presidency report card on Western Balkans

Ethiopia and Somalia: documents outline EU and member state priorities

An “action file on Ethiopia and Somalia,” produced in June as part of the EU’s Operational Coordination Mechanism for the External Dimension of Migration (MOCADEM), highlights ongoing work to limit the arrivals of Ethiopian and Somalian nationals in the EU. Separate presentations by the Norwegian and Swiss delegations (pdf) show some of the countries’ projects in both countries.

The EU action file (pdf) is built around five objectives:

• migrant protection, prevention of irregular migration, combating migrant smuggling and strengthened border management;
• return, readmission and sustainable reintegration;
• prevention of instrumentalisation of migrants;
• strengthened migration governance and management, by addressing the root causes of irregular migration and promoting legal/labour migration pathways and related skills development; and
• sustainable and integrated responses to forced displacement and durable solutions for refugees.

Activities noted in the EU document include diplomatic engagement, “technical” meetings between EU and Ethiopian/Somalian officials (in particular with regard to readmission of deportees), and projects funded by both the EU and member states.

This includes agricultural and climate projects that are considered to contribute to reducing migration. It might be asked whether this is the subversion of development aid, or its relabelling in order to be seen to be ‘doing something’.

The Swiss presentation gives an overview of projects that are part of “political and strategic cooperation,” as well as those related to migration. This includes a map showing where Switzerland has deployed immigration liaison officers (ILOs). The Norwegian presentation focuses on deportation cooperation with Ethiopia and Somalia.

Numbers included in the action file demonstrate the extremely low level of migration to Europe from Ethiopia, in comparison with other destinations. Data collected by IOM indicates that 250,000-300,000 people migrate from or through Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia annually; 50,000-100,000 people out of the country to the south; and just 5,000-10,000 out of the country to the north, including to Europe.

The action file is due to be updated again in 2026.

Presidency report card on Central Mediterranean

An implementation progress report (pdf, partially redacted) on the Central Mediterranean route action file, sent from the Polish Presidency to the MOCADEM roundtable of 19 June 2025, updates member state delegates on progress across various countries.

Regional action files sum up the EU’s activities and future ambitions for border externalisation and other related projects in various ‘partner’ countries and along the most commonly-used irregular routes.

Notable items for the Central Mediterranean include:

Egypt

• The Commission reports “work is progressing” on migration/mobility-related aspects of 2024’s Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, with regular dialogue and meetings through 2024 and early 2025.
• Frontex proposes joint counter-trafficking activities with Egypt following a “familiarisation” visit with the Egyptian interior ministry.
• Three search and rescue vessels were handed over to Egypt in April 2025.
• 1035 assisted voluntary returns from Egypt reported in 2024.

Libya

• Libyan and EU delegations visited one another for “technical missions” in 2024, to discuss “progress in the area of migration and protection.” The meetings are reported to have helped UN agencies access disembarkation points and detention centres.
• Assisted voluntary returns and resettlements out of Libya are reported to be continuing, “supported by the EU.”
• In 2024, the Trilateral (African Union, EU and United Nations) Task Force for Libya suggested a “joint mission” to the Emergency Transit Centre in Rwanda (a holding centre for people removed from Libya by UNHCR pending relocation).
• 16,207 assisted voluntary returns reported for 2024.

Tunisia

• Progress is “expected on all aspects” of the EU-Tunisia MoU.
• 6885 assisted voluntary returns reported for 2024.

Other items

• The report notes several Frontex-supported return flights to Bangladesh and Pakistan in April 2025.
• 7844 assisted voluntary returns reported from Algeria in 2024, 2195 from Morocco.
• The Migrant Protection, Return, and Reintegration Programme for Sub-Saharan Africa (MPRR-SSA) received a “top-up” of €70m in December 2024; there is a plan to mobilise €90m out of 2025’s Rapid Response Pillar-Resilience, with “further use” under consideration in 2026-2027.
• There are also updates on “Talent Partnership” programmes with Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Presidency report card on Western Mediterranean and Atlantic routes

At the Coreper meeting on 11 June, the Polish Presidency updated delegations on the implementation of the Western Mediterranean and Atlantic routes action file (pdf).

Notable items include:

Morocco

• Exchanges on the text of a working agreement with Europol took place, but formal negotiations are yet to begin.
• A meeting of the Frontex-Morocco “mixed committee” on increasing cooperation between the two sides was to be organised after summer 2025, with a Frontex liaison officer to Morocco to be appointed by the end of 2025.
• Discussions on the development of a Moroccan “window” of an anti-smuggling and anti-trafficking project began in 2025. The consortium will be led by Spain.
• An “information and awareness campaign” in Morocco and Tunisia for 2023-2025 reportedly offers young people “the opportunity to design alternative, personalised and safe life paths” rather than try to migrate. The programme cost €1.4m from the AMIF. Safe Journey and SHABABUNA were two similar previous projects.
• By June 2025, Morocco had received €79.6m for budget support. A final payment of €48.5 million is expected by mid-June.

Mauritania

• Civipol is undertaking a €25m project for border control in Mauritania, with funds from the NDICI-Global Europe “Flexible Mechanism”. Standard operating procedures on disembarkation and interception of people migrating by sea are reportedly being developed. Another €2m contract is expected in 2025.
• An additional €28m for Mauritania was contracted under the Flexible Mechanism to deal with refugee flows on its eastern border with Mali. A €5m contract for the protection of disembarked irregular migrants is reported to be under preparation.
• An operational coordination meeting took place in Nouadhibou, Mauritania on 16 April 2025 between Frontex and local coast guard staff.

Other items

• Counter-smuggling cooperation is ongoing with Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
• Under the €35.7m Common Operational Partnership II project with Senegal, three search and rescue vessels are to be delivered by the third quarter of 2025.
• There has been continued Frontex engagement (including meetings and capacity building) with Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia “in view of a possible conclusion of a Working Arrangement”.
• The Frontex liaison officer for Senegal may have their role expanded to include Mauritania and The Gambia.
• A "Global Action against the Financial and Digital-based Dimensions of the Smuggling of Migrants" is in the works. The plan was submitted to the NDICI committee in March 2025, with a contract expected to be signed by June 2025. It will cover Pakistan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco. A job posting for the programme describes the project as taking aim at “cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled smuggling of migrants”.
• A new phase of the EU’s counter-trafficking/smuggling NETCOP programme in West and Central Africa is being discussed. The programme establishes and supports “an operational network between the Common Operational Partnerships (COP) and Joint Investigation Teams (JIT) in West Africa and the Sahel.
• A €1.7m project financed by the EU’s Internal Security Fund aims “to foster migration intelligence services” in Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia.
• Engagement continues with Nigeria on a re-admission agreement and anti-smuggling cooperation. Meetings scheduled for the end of 2025. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged progress in a meeting with Nigeria’s foreign minister on the margins of an EU-AU ministerial meeting on 21 May.
• The joint working group on migration cooperation with Guinea met in Brussels in July 2025.
• A meeting took place in Brussels on 9 April between Frontex, the Commission and officials from Côte d’Ivoire to agree on operational arrangements around the readmission agreement. Security attachés are reported to already be providing help with identification of people in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy, and it is hoped this will be expanded to all member states.
• Danish- and Dutch-led regional projects (in partnership with IOM and ICMPD, respectively), are reported to be providing capacity-building measures on the return and readmission of Moroccan, Pakistani and Bangladesh citizens from the Western Balkans.
• Projects continue under the Regional Development and Protection Programme in North Africa and Mauritania – Phase 7 implementation runs from January 2025 to December 2027.
• Senegal and Nigeria could be included in the second phase of the “talent partnership” programme, provided there is “continuous cooperation” on migration, including readmission agreements.
• A note in the action plan discusses the idea of linking up “voluntary” returnees’ reintegration with European companies’ investments in return countries. The timeline for this idea is unclear, with “reflection” ongoing.

Member state actions

The document also lists a series of ongoing actions from individual member states. These include:

• Belgian projects in Côte d’Ivoire (MIGRET), Guinea (AMIS) and Senegal, running from 2024-2028 and focusing on “sustainable reintegration of returnees” (budgets unknown).
• Numerous Danish projects, including €1.3m for child health and reintegration in Algeria (2023-2025), projects for vulnerable migrants’ protection and reintegration in North and Sub-Saharan Africa (€2.7m for each region, 2024-2025), €1.3m for child protection in Morocco (2023-2025) as well as the €47.5m “Pathways to Protection” programme to address ‘route-based’ risks (2024-2029) and €13.4m for migrants stranded in Niger who have chosen to return (2023-2026), amid other projects.
• Denmark is funding the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) with almost €2.7m for research “along various African hotspots” with an eye to northward migration (2024-2029).
• Spanish private-sector initiatives to “address root causes” in Mauritania and Senegal (April-November 2025).
• A €4.5m Swedish-led project with UNHCR focused on a “route-based approach to manage mixed movements along the West Atlantic route.”

Presidency report card on Western Balkans

At the MOCADEM meeting on 19 June, the Polish Presidency updated delegations on the implementation of the Western Balkans action file (pdf).

The update shows considerable EU-coordinated activities across the region, as is to be expected given the EU candidate status of many countries there. The accession process is an opportunity for the EU to have countries on its south-eastern borders adopt the EU acquis on borders, immigration and visas. Prior to their accession to the EU – if and when that happens – states in the region form a migration “buffer zone”.

The latest “roadmaps” on strengthening and accelerating asylum procedures have been signed or endorsed for Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia, broadly covering 2025-2028, while current roadmaps for Kosovo and Serbia have been extended.

The report includes updates on the enhanced detention capacities in each country, as well as appointments of liaison officers and other coordinating officials, myriad dialogues and meetings with Western Balkan officials, and political outreach from Commissioners and senior Commission officials through 2025.

Notable items include:

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)

• The status agreement extending Frontex’s cooperation with the country was signed June 11 2025. Such agreements already exist with most other Balkans countries.
• The finalisation of an operational plan for Frontex and BiH border police to be ‘tentatively’ agreed August 2025.
• The report urges special care be given to security in and around BiH reception centres to prevent secondary movement or smuggling.
• BiH is reported to have conducted deportations to Türkiye and Pakistan, and has concluded return agreements with both states. Negotiations are ongoing with Bangladesh.
• A €500,000 pilot project on forced returns has been extended to Serbia.

Montenegro

• Second roadmap on strengthening and accelerating asylum procedures, covering 2025-2027, signed in March 2025.

Other items

• It is reported there are around 500 Frontex officials deployed in the region.
• Reference is made to a €1,4m 'Pathways EMR-WBR’ programme aimed at “changing irregular migration behaviour” using social media and an online platform. The project is reportedly focused on Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Türkiye, Serbia and BiH.
• A project financed by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (“Strengthening of Migration Management, Asylum and Return Procedures in the Western Balkans”) is reported to have increased deportation capacity in the region.
• A Frontex-led workshop on deportations to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco and Algeria took place in January 2024. Another on India, Egypt and Iraq was planned for January 2025.
• Concern over the irregular migration impact of visa-free travel schemes in Western Balkans countries continues, particularly with regards to Türkiye, though “concrete commitments” have been made to align with EU visa policy. The report urges Western Balkans partners “be encouraged to take further steps in all contacts and at all levels”.

Member state actions

The document also lists a series of ongoing, or recently completed, actions from individual member states. These include:

• A Danish project on strengthening counter-smuggling (€2m, 2021-June 2025).
• A Dutch project to step up deportations, implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (€1m, 2024-2025).

Swedish projects to strengthen and accelerate Western Balkan asylum procedures (€2m, 2024-2026) and visa capacity-building (€1,2m, 2024-2026).