Very extensive research article about Europe’s (patched & chaotic) migration policy. So in a quick read this is what I undertood

Afaik, there is no coherent migration policy to this point. It’s been more of a crisis response.

The amount of migrants to Europe have only been growing, and will be growing as (geo)political & climate crises worsens.

The author’s state the infectivity of current policies, ergo the externalisation of Europe’s borders to gateway countries, and the monetary & humanitarian costs of those actions ( smugglers, borderpatrols, humanright abuses, etc).

Finally, their more effective proposed solution would be a cooperation platform including visa programs with the North African (developing) democracies. Paraphrasing some pieces:

"For decades, European countries have framed migration as a security risk and doubled down again and again on border externalisation in response. And for decades, externalisation has resulted in increasing arrival numbers, extortion from Europe’s North African partners- - , complicity in human rights abuses, and the opportunity cost of other strategic interests. It bears repeating: it is time to try a different approach.

Europeans can improve the current deployment of externalisation by developing broader agreements that include visas with partner countries in exchange for joint counter-smuggling partnerships. This would help to reverse the power shift implicit in externalisation policies. Enlarged visa programmes with origin countries would bring considerable leverage for European governments. Agreements such as these would open the door to enhanced cooperation in combatting traffickers and improving policing standards at the borders

This all requires solidarity within the EU: more capably handling migration is a common European problem and requires a combined European solution to be effective. For example, the EU should increase its efforts to assist the Italian government in processing irregular arrivals. This would also help alleviate Italy of an undue burden that drives resentment and political tensions."