In recent weeks, refugees and migrants have made thousands of attempts to enter the United Kingdom from the French port of Calais through the Channel Tunnel. Since June, there have been nine deaths.
"It is difficult to see ad hoc payments like this making much difference. The money could be used for extra security safeguards at Calais and other Channel ports but immigrants will still believe that freedom, wealth and security is on offer in the UK," Alan Sked, professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science with expertise in the European Union told Sputnik.
Sked explained that the real problem is an absence of a common EU policy for "dealing with the hundreds of thousands of desperate people fleeing from war, poverty and dictatorship in the Middle East and Africa."
The expert noted that newly-arrived refugees cannot be deported "home to dictatorships," and in many cases they even destroy their documents and refuse to say where they come from.
"I think the idea of the EU plan is to address the root causes of the crisis," Toaldo told Sputnik.
The analyst explained that a new trend that makes the migration crisis more difficult is the growing number of refugees among those arriving to Europe.
"About 60 percent of those arriving in Europe are now refugees and this makes it harder (and legally more difficult) to push them back," Toaldo said.
Most of the refugees are those affected by the ongoing civil war in Syria, and some have enough money to afford smuggler services to reach Italy or Greece by sea. This, in turn, increases smugglers' business, which results in the deaths of hundreds of migrants in overloaded vessels.
"Apart from trying to stabilize and pacify Syria, Europe can do three things: increase the investigative capacities and the cooperation in investigations about the smuggling networks; create legal channels to enter the EU both for asylum-seekers and economic migrants; share the burden more equally among the different EU member states," Toaldo said.
Some 3,000 to 5,000 migrants from the Middle East and North Africa are currently reported to be encamped in Calais in extremely poor sanitary conditions.
Over 2,000 people have died since the beginning of 2015 crossing the Mediterranean on their way to Europe, according to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration.
People are fleeing conflict-torn homes mostly in North African and Middle Eastern countries to create a better life in Europe.
