...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...on Wednesday said it would chip in another three billion euros ($3.7 bln) for Syrian refugees in
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
, and restrict travel for countries refusing to take back their citizens who fail to obtain asylum in Europe.
The latest measures to curb immigration from the Middle East and Africa, which overwhelmed the bloc when it surged in 2015-16, were announced by the EU's top migration official, Dimitris Avramopoulos.
Some 1.8 million refugees and
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...across the Mediterranean since 2014, according to U.N. figures, causing friction among member states at odds over how to handle them and lifting support for nationalist and populist parties.
The EU has since been tightening its external borders and asylum laws, as well as offering money and other help to third countries in exchange for preventing people from trekking north.
A 2016 deal with Turkey, though criticised by rights groups for restricting the chance to claim asylum by those in need, has cut to a trickle arrivals through its soil to EU member Greece.
The EU on Wednesday announced a second tranche of three billion euros for projects benefiting Syrian refugees in Turkey, though the bloc's executive European Commission and the member states must yet agree on the exact financing.
"Our cooperation with Turkey is key to address common challenges," Avramopoulos told a news conference, referring to the many rifts between Ankara and the EU, which sees President Tayyip Erdogan as increasingly autocratic.
"Unnecessary escalations can and should be avoided," he said, hoping for a swift return of two Greek soldiers held in detention in Turkey.
Despite heavy criticism of Erdogan's track record on human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
, the bloc's brass hats will host him for high-level talks next week, a reminder that many in the EU may dread Ankara but cannot do without it.
Deportations
Though the number of people who reached Europe on smugglers' boats since 2014 is small compared to the bloc's population of 500 million, higher immigration caught the EU by surprise and caused political chaos.
It still reverberates, as last seen in the resounding defeat of Italia's centre-left in elections this month.
As EU states struggle to become more effective in deporting failed asylum seekers or people who overstay the time allowed, the bloc agreed last June to restrict visas for foreign countries that refuse to take back their nationals.
The Commission proposed on Wednesday to regularly monitor how third countries cooperate on returns and, if it deemed it poor, could recommend the bloc gets tougher on visas for that country in the hope of encouraging a change in policy.
Currently, citizens of 105 countries in the world - from Russia to Congo to Bolivia - need a visa to get into Europe's Schengen zone of free travel and Avramopoulos said 15 million such entry permits had been issued in 2016.
With some African and Asian countries topping the EU's list of problematic returns, the Commission said the bloc was still short of one billion euros for projects to improve life for people in Africa. The bloc hopes such projects would weaken people's resolve to try get to Europe.
EU warns Africa of tougher visa policy over illegal migration
[AlAhram] The EU warned African and other countries on Wednesday that their citizens will find it harder to get visas to Europe if they refuse to readmit economic migrants under the bloc's efforts to curb migration. Brussels has been seeking greater cooperation from such countries to take back irregular migrants since Europe was hit in 2015 with its worst migration crisis since World War II.
"We will introduce stricter conditions for processing visas when a partner country does not cooperate sufficiently on the readmission of irregular migrants," EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a press conference in Brussels.
Under international law, European countries do not have to admit migrants seeking jobs but are required to take in those people fleeing war and persecution.
EU officials say the vast majority of people from sub-Saharan Africa are economic migrants and they have stepped up efforts to return them to their home countries. But EU sources and analysts said African countries have dragged their feet on readmitting them, mainly because the money they send home from abroad boosts their economies.
"Countries like Mali, Senegal or Ivory Coast cooperate very little," a diplomat told AFP.
"We must fight to obtain the famous consular pass (to return a migrant to his country) and that undermines the ties of trust we must have with these countries."
Under the proposal, if the commission and member countries find other countries are uncooperative on returns, they can toughen rules on granting visas. These include the processing time of applications, the length of validity of visas issued, the cost of visa fees and the exemption of such fees for certain travellers such as diplomats.
The commission, the EU executive, said 14 million tourist and business visas for short stays, up to 90 days maximum every six months, were granted in 2016. These visas are required for citizens of around 100 countries and allow them to travel freely in 26 European countries in the so-called Schengen zone.