A TAXPAYER-FUNDED AID programme by the EU to address irregular migration in African nations is unsustainable, a new audit has found, and the European Commission failed to properly track how the funds addressed its goals.

The €5 billion Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, set up in 2015 and set to conclude this year, may not have any long-term impacts on irregular migration and displacement in the continent as a result, the report said.

Fianna Fáil Dublin MEP Barry Andrews said he was “shocked” by the findings of the audit, which he said “borders a scandal”. He voiced concerns at the European Parliament justice committee yesterday over how the findings may impact future aid schemes.

“It’s shocking, frankly. I have to say I’m really shocked to read this in your report,” Andrews told representatives from the European Court of Auditors, he quoted the audit’s finding that the fund’s achievements are unsustainable for the future.

“When the end of 2025 comes, all of these will simply fall over,” he added.

Auditors found that the European Commission failed to monitor the success of the project. Their report notes that the fund operated in a “volatile environment” and the EU did carry out early reports on the project’s impact on human rights in the region.

The reports adds that the Commission then later relied on reports by third parties, which recieved funding from the project, to track the success and the use of the aid. It found that officials did not conduct follow-ups with those third parties.

As a result, the audit said, there are concerns over the accuracy of the data received in the third-party reports. 

Andrews said yesterday: “The whole point of the trust fund, all four-and-a-half billion euro of taxpayers’ money was to address the root causes of irregular migration.

A European Court of Auditors @EUauditors report presented today highlights that the @EU_Commission has not adequately monitored whether the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa is effectively addressing instability, forced displacement, or irregular migration—the very reason that… pic.twitter.com/sN2IrzlWGT

— Barry Andrews MEP (@BarryAndrewsMEP) February 6, 2025

“And your finding is that there’s no evidence that they (the European Commission) have helped to address the root causes. It’s really a scandal, what we’re reading here.”

Auditors recommended that an evidence-based targeting of regions and beneficiaries be carried out in future development aid schemes after some activities identified in the report did not fit the eligibility criteria.

It further recommended that EU officials improve the accuracy of their reports and achievements, through providing staff with proper training and equipment, include fact and accuracy checks on aggregated reports and identify times where beneficiaries were incorrectly assessed as eligible for funding.

Auditors also recommended that the EU centralise the documents relating to the Africa trust fund so that learnings can be achieved ahead of future development schemes and suggested that better training be provided to address human rights risks in the future.

It is hoped that the findings and recommendations help to improve the outcome of the upcoming ‘Global Europe’ fund, which aims to implement aid and provide development schemes to sub-saharan Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Caribbean.

Andrews said it was “really worrying” that the report is to be used as evidence for the Global Europe fund, as it plans to address similar issues around migration and displacement.

“And what we have here is proof that we just don’t have the tools. The data came after the evidence, so it didn’t steer the projects, and the evidence that you provided today suggests that entire project was a waste of time, and it’s really bordering on a scandal.”