In order to reduce the arrival of migrants in Europe a study published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) recommends not closing the borders to economic migrants but rather managing the flows, and puts forward concrete proposals.
In a study published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), analyst Mattia Toaldo suggested offering a number of legal work visas to African states that accept repatriation agreements for illegal immigrants. The proposal aims to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Europe via Libya.
This is a goal EU policies have so far failed to reach, according to the author of "Don't close borders, manage them: how to improve EU policy on migration through Libya".
Legal work visas in exchange for agreement on repatriation of illegal migrants
In Toaldo's view, the EU and member states should reconsider their positions and break the taboo on economic immigration that is currently practically impossible for Africans other than by illegal means. In other words, the EU should abandon the idea that its external borders can be completely closed to economic migrants and try rather to manage the flows by offering legal work visas to those African states that accept an agreement on the repatriation of illegal immigrants.
According to the analyst's plan, the work visas would be distributed among people registered on a special list. The number of available legal visas would be equivalent to a quarter of the illegal entries in 2016 for each country of origin. The plan would be applied by the EU itself or by a coalition of willing countries, which would also need to introduce efficient asylum procedures, strengthen the Libyan economy and local communities, guarantee respect for the state of law and human rights and broaden the scope of the mission in support of Libya,currently led by Italy.