Brussels, 05/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 5 April, the European Parliament (EP) adopted the own initiative report by Fiorello Provera (EFD, Italy): “Migration flows arising from instability: scope and role of EU foreign policy”. With this report, MEPs call on the Council to put in place an action plan for the resettlement of refugees in Europe, to activate the solidarity clause on asylum and immigration contained in Article 80 of the Treaty and to provide aid to those displaced under the terms of the directive on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons (Directive 2001/55), which has never been used.
MEPs said the recent upheavals in North Africa had led to more than 400,000 people being displaced in the region and to over 20,000 migrants, mostly from Tunisia, arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa in the space of a few weeks. They said that “Frontex cannot be the main tool” to help Lampedusa cope with the migration crisis.
Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström also said, on Monday evening, that she supported the use of Directive 2001/55 and was trying to bring pressure to bear on member states each to take in a number of the refugees from Libya who were entitled to international protection. These are two issues which will be discussed at the Home Affairs Council on 11 April, but, for the moment, “there is no qualified majority in Council” in support of activating the directive, Malmström stated in Strasbourg. She said too that the Council had to reach agreement on setting up a resettlement programme in the EU and to finalise the asylum package before the end of the year.
In their report, MEPs also called for the suspension of the EU-Libya Cooperation Agenda on migration to “be revoked as soon as there is a new transitional government willing to promote the democratic and human rights-based implementation of such an agreement”. Similar agreements on migration should be concluded with other countries neighbouring on the EU, MEPs said. The Commission is already examining options in this area, having recently visited Tunisia and Egypt for discussions on the future migration management and mobility partnerships - that is, legal migration.
The report adopted seeks to be broader. Noting that political instability, economic problems and lack of civil liberties are some of the factors which encourage emigration, the EP also called for measures to address unemployment in the migrants' countries of origin and transit. In the long term, MEPs said, “the only effective solution to prevent a mass influx of migrants from unstable regions is to create jobs and improve living conditions in the countries of origin and transit”.
EU foreign policy should complement EU policies on migration, with MEPs proposing that EU funds target - in both origin and transit countries - long-term projects “to create jobs, support SMEs, provide microcredit facilities, empower women and minority groups and maximise local economic development”.
MEPs called on the Commission, when preparing the new external action instruments for the period after 2013, to ensure “the rapid allocation of emergency and recovery funds”. This, they said, would be “a rapid response in order to provide relief and assistance for migrants in a situation of distress -particularly those who are in a very vulnerable situation, such as women and unaccompanied minors”. (S.P./transl.rt)