The EU is failing to dissuade African migrants despite spending billions, auditors say

The European Union is failing to draw important lessons on how to discourage migrants from Africa leaving for Europe without authorization and could do more to limit abuses against people trying to make the journey, the EU's financial watchdog warned on Wednesday.

The findings come in a European Court of Auditors report into the bloc's Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, a multi-billion-euro program hastily set up in 2015 after more than 1 million migrants arrived on Europe's shores, many of them fleeing war in Syria, overwhelming services in Italy and Greece.

It was meant to help tackle the root causes of migration in Africa, like poverty, conflict or unemployment. At first, 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) was available to distribute on hundreds of projects, but that amount has swelled to about 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) today.

The fund is managed by the EU's...