Brussels, 21/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Although the Frontex agency's Hermes mission began its deployment on Sunday 20 February in Italy (to help tackle the recent influx of more than 5,000 Tunisians on the island of Lampedusa), the European Commission and several member states expressed their concerns, on Monday 21 February, about the situation in Libya, which has been gripped by protests and repression that could trigger off a new wave of immigration towards the EU.
The Hermes mission was deployed on Sunday. It will bring together 30 experts over the next 10 days from around 10 different countries. France confirmed its participation on Monday, as did Switzerland. Initially, it is will focus on taking charge of migrants at Lampedusa and in other centres in Italy, where they will be questioned, their nationality identified and possible criminal activities detected. Frontex will also provide air support and border monitoring, “together with the deployment of additional air and sea resources in Malta and Italy”. Ultimately, it will be involved in repatriating migrants who do not benefit from international protection. So far, the technical details of this mission (which is expected to be up and running until at least 31 March) have not been set out. Nonetheless, the Commission, through Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström's spokesperson Michele Cercone, stated on Monday that it was prepared to do more for Italy and increase Hermes' capability, “if necessary”.
Certain member states, with Italy at the head of them, together with France and the Commission, expressed concerns on Monday about the course of events in Libya. These concerns particularly involve the recent declarations made by Libyan leaders, according to which the country would put a halt to its cooperation with the EU over the management of illegal immigration, if the EU continues to support the ongoing revolt in the country. On Monday, the French secretary of state for European affairs, Laurent Wauquiez, denounced these statements on Monday, as “unacceptable state blackmail”.
Last October, the Commissioner for home affairs effectively launched a cooperation programme in Tripoli to help the country prevent illegal immigration from its shores. Since then, she has held talks with Libyan leaders to finalise this cooperation, particularly at a financial level, but Libya would like more funding than the Commission had proposed. On Monday, a diplomatic source said that this partnership had been suspended by the Libyan leaders but it was “more necessary than ever” and should continue to be pushed. On Monday, a threat made by the Libyans also caused some division among member states such as Italy, Malta and the Czech Republic. The threat involved foreign affairs ministers being obliged to restrict their condemnation of repression being carried out in Libya because if not, Libya would put an end to all immigration controls.
This problem is expected to be at the centre of the next Council of Home Affairs Ministers on Thursday 24 February, in Brussels. At the request of Italy, a debate will take place at the Council regarding the consequences of recent political upheavals in North Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, in addition to their impact on the flow of migrants. On Monday, Italy also reported the arrival of 132 migrants on its shores, according to press agency reports. This brings the number of new arrivals over the last three days to 200.
The European Commission has already said that this trend is difficult to gauge and pointed out that, “a modest appraisal is required in this respect with what is going on at an international level… and we do not know what is going to happen”, added Malmström's spokesperson. Speaking on behalf of Italy, however, its foreign minister, Franco Frattini, asserted that there were fears regarding the danger of “an unimaginable level of immigration flows… which could involve hundreds of thousands of people coming to Europe”. Frattini also said that his country was prepared to consider increasing aid to these countries, particularly Egypt and Tunisia, after examining the possibility of EIB loans of up to €5 billion over a three-year period, in an effort to create jobs in these countries.
During the Council of Home Affairs Ministers, exchanges are, therefore, expected to focus on enhancing EU border control and the usual operations carried out by Frontex every year in the Mediterranean. Ministers are also expected to debate the question of the independence of Frontex and the issue of providing it with genuine technical and human resources. For member states, these forthcoming meetings between the one on 24 February and the European Summit at the end of March (which will devote an item on the agenda to the situation) will provide an opportunity to resurrect the idea of a permanent European border guard system, explained one source. The same source said that this project had long been supported by France and Italy. (S.P./transl.fl)