Brussels, 25/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 11 March, the EU27 affirmed their solidarity and willingness to provide practical support to countries that are currently most affected by flows of migrants from the Mediterranean. This sentiment has now been reaffirmed in their conclusions and member states have made a commitment to providing these countries with all assistance required to tackle the evolving situation. In their conclusions, the EU27 again called on the Commission to submit proposals to them, upstream of the June summit on “a global approach to migration and mobility partnerships”.
In their conclusions, member states again pointed out that they expected the Commission to get a programme up and running before the June summit “for developing management capacity for flows of migrants and refugees”.
This plan involves the countries of the region, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. The European commissioner for home affairs, Cecilia Malmström, has already begun to examine these subjects by visiting Cairo on 23 March. She also intends to visit Tunisia next week. The idea underpinning her visits is to develop future proposals and look at ways of managing immigration flows, as well as helping migrants return to their countries of origin.
The EU27 have welcomed this initial visit to Egypt. According to one source, ministers for home affairs will draw up an initial balance sheet of these visits and the contacts established by the commissioner, during the next Home Affairs Council on 11 April. The Commission is then expected to begin drafting its proposals on the basis of this meeting.
In the context of managing current migratory flows, particularly on the island of Lampedusa, the EU27 again reaffirmed the necessity of enhancing the Frontex agency and reaching an agreement on reviewing the agency regulation by June this year. Member states have also been urged to provide more human and technical resources to missions currently being carried out by Frontex in Italy and Greece, such as the Hermes and Poseidon missions. Member state indicated that the Commission is also expected to release further resources for consolidating these two missions.
These wishes have partly been granted given that on Thursday 24 March Frontex announced that it had extended its Hermes mission by at least a further five months (it was due to come to an end on 31 March). The agency also announced that its geographical remit was also being extended and its zone of operations would include Sardinia. For a number of weeks now, the Commission has been prepared to unblock emergency funds for countries having to confront significant ways of migrants, if these countries make a formal request for this aid.
The European Commission at the same time (on Friday, 25 March) began to see whether member states are prepared to take in certain migrants stuck in Libya and apply the “relocation” mechanism. This exploration exercise took place at a technical meeting. The process is exclusively based on the willingness of member states to take action in this connection. One source explained that this will not be the subject of a decision by the Council and that the Commission was working “bilaterally” with member states in this regard. (S.P./transl.fl)