Brussels: European countries have spent EUR 11.3 billion in the last 15 years on deporting illegal migrants and another EUR 1.6 billion on border control around "Fortress Europe", journalists said in a study published on Wednesday.


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The study was published as the European Union plans to reinforce the fight against illegal immigration, while trying to encourage reluctant member states to admit tens of thousands of asylum seekers and refugees.


The study by the Migrants` Files, a consortium of European journalists and other groups, said the 28 EU countries as well as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland have spent more than EUR 11.3 billion (USD 12.8 billion) to deport millions of people since 2000.


On average, the deportation of each individual cost on average EUR 4,000 (USD 4,200), with half of that covering transport.


European countries also spent EUR 1.6 billion (USD 1.8 billion) on border control, while migrants paid more than EUR 15.7 billion (USD 17.8 billion) to smugglers to help them reach the continent, according to the study by 20 journalists, statisticians and other experts from 16 countries.


More than 600,000 migrants asked for asylum in the European Union in 2014.


From January to the end of May 2015, more than 100,000 people crossed the Mediterranean, risking there lives to try to reach Europe on board rickety, overcrowded boats. More than 1,800 of them drowned.


According to the study, the EU border agency Frontex used up nearly one billion euros while Mediterranean countries have spent at least 70 million euros on buying boats, night vision equipment, drones, off-road vehicles and other hardware to monitor borders.


The walls around the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa cost nearly EUR 10 million to maintain.


Since 2011, Italian taxpayers have paid authorities in Libya more than EUR 17 million for boats, training and night vision goggles to track refugees and migrants.


But the study said European countries have "done nothing to deter refugees from attempting to reach Europe" by using high-tech sensors, militarising the Greek, Italian, Bulgarian and Spanish borders, or deporting thousands of people each year.


The study authors say their results show, for the first time, the economic cost of building and maintaining what they brand "Fortress Europe".