The Foreign Service Journal, May 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2017 43 Changes in the Brussels-Washington equation may affect the European Union’s refugee resettlement efforts. The Migrant Crisis in Europe and the U.S.-E.U. Relationship Kathleen Sheehan, a Foreign Service officer from 1993 to 2007, served in Shenyang and Washington, D.C., in the Bureaus of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, European Affairs, and Population, Refugees and Migration. She lives in Washington, D.C. The opinions and characterizations in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government. A s the European Union continues to take stock of its relationship with the new Donald J. Trump administration, the refugee and migration crisis that has over- whelmed the continent in recent years is subsiding. The annual number of individuals crossing into Europe dropped from more than a million in 2015 to about 300,000 in 2016, and stands at just over 12,000 as of February. Despite a decrease in the number of people arriving, however, European countries must nonetheless ensure that all migrants have access to safe reception and accommodation sites while they wait for their asylum claims to be adjudicated. To date, the United States has worked cooperatively with Europeans to deal with the crisis, and the European Union has counted on American moral and financial advocacy on behalf of refugees and migrants. Whether Washington will continue to play this role under the new administration is uncertain. FEATURE State of the Crisis The number of refugees crossing from Turkey to Greece has dropped considerably since the wave began in 2015. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, just 264 people arrived in Greece in January 2017, a fraction of the 67,000 who arrived in January 2016. The dramatic reduction is due in large measure to the deal the European Union struck with the government of Turkey in March 2016. Under that arrangement, for every migrant Turkey accepts back from Greece, the E.U. has agreed to resettle one migrant from Turkey. The E.U. also disbursed 3 billion euros to Turkey for migrant assistance. This deal, criticized by many humanitar- ian organizations for threatening to forcibly return refugees to countries where they are liable to be persecuted, effectively sent a message to people fleeing the Middle East that the Turkish route to Europe was closed. Meanwhile, the flow of migrants from Africa to Italy has con- tinued unabated, with no end in sight. According to the UNHCR, 170,973 people made the treacherous journey from Libya to Italy in 2016, and the agency predicts another 190,000 will arrive this year. Given the perceived success of the E.U.-Turkey deal in halt- ing migration from that country, E.U. member-states are now looking to countries in North Africa to play a more active role in stemming the flow of people to southern Europe. At the 2017 summit, where Malta assumed the presidency of the European Union, member states proposed more training for and a greater exchange of information with the Libyan Coast Guard, as well as BY KATHL EEN SHEEHAN