ON SIMILAR TOPICS POLICY BRIEF November 2023 THE'IRREGULAR' DISTRACTION IN THE NEW PACT ENTRY POINTS FOR EUROPE AND AFRICA ABSTRACT In September 2020, the European Commission presented a'New Pact on Migration and Asylum' that proposed"a comprehensive approach, bringing together policy in the areas of migration, asylum, integration and border management, and European Union's(EU) relations with third countries". The proposal consists of an intricate and complicated set of legislation that, at least in theory, should reform the EU's current asylum and migration policy, and ensure a holistic approach to migration management. According to the agreed roadmap, the European legislators should adopt the'new' Pact by May 2024. However, the outcome of the ongoing negotiations is impossible to foresee, as EU member states' deeply conflicting interests may eventually jeopardise a final agreement. In its current form, the Pact has been criticised by many observers, who regard it, beyond the dominant rhetoric that speaks of reform, as'old wine in a new bottle'. The Pact, in fact, insists on the existing EU strategy, focused on curtailing'irregular migration' and on the securitisation of migration. Such a regressive approach does not comply with human rights standards and worsens migrants' vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the Pact does not take into consideration the interests and needs of the origin and transit countries it will have an impact on. This policy brief argues that only a negotiated strategy between Africa and Europe that reflects a common understanding of migration, mobility and development can eventually benefit both continents. AUTHOR OTTILIA ANNA MAUNGANIDZE Head of Special Projects, Institute for Security Studies (ISS), South Africa IN PARTNERSHIP WITH POLICY BRIEF November 2023 BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN EU MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES TOWARDS AN UPDATED POLICY COHERENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT APPROACH ABSTRACT Migration policymakers often desire to use development cooperation to manage migration, while development experts insist that development policy should be first and foremost about the Sustainable Development Goals. This policy brief examines how this approach is reflected in the current reform of the Common European Asylum System(CEAS) and other policy initiatives, to what extent the current use of development cooperation for migration management is in line with the SDGs, and whether and how the controversies between the two policy areas can be overcome. It concludes that the EU's current migration and asylum policies are at odds with the SDGs and the EU’s Aid Effectiveness Agenda, both in spirit and in practice, for example when it comes to the use of conditionality. The policy brief posits that a progressive migration policy could even argue for the instrumentalisation of migration policy for development goals: promoting fair and well-regulated migration arrangements to foster economic and social development. AUTHOR Steffen Angenendt Senior Fellow and head of the migration unit of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs(SWP), Berlin NADINE BIEHLER associate at the German Institute for International and Security Studies(SWP) and member of its migration unit IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TOWARDS A HUMANE REFUGEE POLICY FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION Gesine Schwan TOWARDS A HUMANE REFUGEE POLICY FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION Gesine Schwan with the collaboration of Malisa Zobel A no-win situation: Deconstructing the efficacy of EU externalisation policies from an African perspective