VALLETTA, Malta — Tens of thousands of people seeking better lives are expected to trek across deserts and board unseaworthy boats in war-torn Libya this year in a desperate effort to reach European shores by way of Italy. “Come next spring, the number of people crossing over the Mediterranean will reach record levels,” Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, whose country holds the European Union’s presidency, predicted. In exchange, Turkey is supposed to receive billions of euros, visa-free travel for its citizens, and fast-tracked EU membership talks. [...] the EU wants to adapt this outsourcing pact to African nations that migrants are leaving to reach Europe, despite criticism that the agreement sends asylum-seekers back to countries that could be unsafe for them. The number of people arriving in the Greek islands, for instance, plunged over the last year despite political wrangling over whether Turkey’s government was meeting the conditions for securing the visa-free travel incentive.
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