Samenvatting

Following tragic events in the Mediterranean Sea, several actions described in the European Agenda on Migration
were put into operation. One of these key actions was the establishment of the EU Action Plan against migrant
smuggling in 2015. The main goal of the EU Action Plan is to prevent and counter migrant smuggling. In this
dissertation, it was researched how counter-action strategies, implemented by the EU in 2015, prevent migrant
smuggling in Europe. It was expected that not all actions of the Action Plan were implemented, mainly because the
implementation of the Action Plan is still ongoing up until 2020. To be able to answer the research question, a
progress report on the European Agenda on Migration was used, since the European Commission has not yet
evaluated the Action Plan against migrant smuggling. In line with the expectation, not all actions have been
implemented. A list of implemented actions, up to and including the year 2017, was established. Additionally, a
comparison was made between the situation regarding migrant smuggling before and after the Action Plan was
implemented in 2015, in order to conclude what the effect was of the implemented actions up to and including 2017.
Firstly, what stands out is that less migrants arrived in Europe since the implementation of the EU Action Plan,
especially via the Eastern Mediterranean and the Central Mediterranean routes. On the contrary, the Western
Mediterranean route seems to become more popular. Besides, the Black Sea route has emerged and is becoming
more of a trend. This means the migrant smugglers are adapting to the counter-action strategies of the EU by using
alternative routes. Additionally, before the EU Action Plan, the motive of migrants to engage with smugglers was
the lack of regular and safe migration channels towards Europe and was still the case after the implementation. It
seems that counter-action strategies are actually making it harder for migrants to travel towards Europe in a legal
and safe way, resulting in migrants still relying on the help of smugglers to cross borders. Besides, the new working
methods of migrant smugglers are still very dangerous. With the number of migrant found dead not decreasing in
2017 compared to 2015, it is questioned what the effect is of the actions in the EU Action Plan on the safety of
migrants. At least it is clear that there is a lack of implemented actions to create safe and legal routes. In conclusion,
it is doubtful whether the counter-actions of the European Union, implemented in 2015, reach their goal to prevent
migrant smuggling, because migrant smugglers are adapting to the counter-action strategies of the EU, while the risk
of dying for migrants is not decreasing. Therefore, more attention should be focussed towards the safety of migrants
by including actions to create legal and safe routes in the approach to tackle migrant smuggling.