Inside Story

The EU’s refugee dilemma

As the EU offers African leaders $2bn to help control refugee numbers, is providing money the real answer to the crisis?

Sweden has introduced temporary border controls in the south, saying it can no longer guarantee shelter for the thousands of refugees crossing through every day.

The country has accepted more asylum seekers – relative to the size of its population – than any other European country. Almost 200,000 refugees and migrants are expected to claim asylum by the end of this year.

And Sweden says the burden is becoming too much to handle.

On Wednesday, EU leaders met African leaders at a migration summit to offer them more than $2bn in increased emergency funding.

In return, they want African leaders to help control the number of people leaving for Europe, and to more readily take back unsuccessful applicants.

But is providing money the answer to the increasing refugee crisis? Or is a different approach needed?

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests: 

Elizabeth Collett – Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe. 

Nando Sigona – Senior lecturer at University of Birmingham. 

Sarosh Zaiwalla – Senior partner and founder of Zaiwalla and Co-Solicitors and specialist in immigration law and EU migration.