EU debates on migration and development aid have suffered from four problems: a misdiagnosis of the geographical origins of EU-headed migration; a misinterpretation of the relationship between development and migration; a misunderstanding of EU policy on migration conditionality and aid; and the misconstruction of EU development commitments with regard to migration controls. Although the EU has not implemented a policy on migration conditionality for its development assistance, it should pilot such schemes in the near future. Given the centrality of irregular migration to the health of EU democracies, the bloc would be well advised to add the conditionality experiment to the migration control toolbox.