EU leaders will press for quicker progress from deals with African countries to reduce the number of migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.
The EU has intensified cooperation with governments in Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali, which are among the countries of origin for people attempting the dangerous journey.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders are set to call for “more efforts” to limit the number of irregular migrants and make it easier to send back people denied asylum, according to a draft communique.
The western Mediterranean has reverted to the main crossing point for migrants since an EU-Turkey migration pact contributed to a sharp reduction in the number of people crossing the Aegean Sea to Greece.
While arrivals in Greece have fallen sharply since last year, the number of migrants travelling to Italy is virtually unchanged.
More than 115,000 people arrived in the country by boat in the first eight months of 2016. Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Gambia and Ivory Coast were the most significant countries of origin, but migrants have travelled from as far as Pakistan and Bangladesh, some making the journey overland.
Getting control of the EU’s external border is a priority for many countries, including France and Italy.
The Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, who faces a tricky referendum in December, has long argued that European countries have not done enough to help Italy deal with the migration crisis.
Following a post-Brexit vote summit in Bratislava of 27 EU member states, excluding the UK, Renzi denounced the result as little more than “a nice cruise along the Danube”.
Despite Italy’s frustration, EU diplomats were expecting a less confrontational debate on migration, which is the first item on the agenda, at the summit.
EU leaders want the migration deals with the five African countries fully up and running by spring 2017 to alleviate pressure on Italy.
The agreements are broadly similar to the EU-Turkey arrangement. Countries are being offered a mix of carrot and stick to tackle people smuggling and take back migrants who have been refused asylum in Europe.
An EU policy paper published on Thursday said “all incentives” should be used to create “the necessary leverage for cooperation”. The EU was “standing ready to provide greater support to those partner countries which make the greatest efforts, but being ready to draw the consequences if progress falls short,” the paper said. Critics fear this is code for stopping aid.
Aid agencies have criticised the EU, arguing that foreign policy and development goals are being subsumed into reducing migration.
Natalia Alonso, Oxfam’s deputy director for advocacy and campaigns, said: “Shutting down borders does not stop people looking for safety, dignity and a better life, but actually forces people to use more dangerous and exploitative routes.”
According to an Oxfam report (pdf) published this week, unaccompanied children arriving in Italy are being kept for up to five weeks in “de-facto detention facilities” intended to be used for no more than 48 hours.
Speaking earlier this week, Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, who is crafting the agreements, said fewer migrants were leaving African countries. She said the EU had achieved more with its African migration deals in the past four months than it had in previous years.