Brussels, 08/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - After the disaster last week off the coast of Lampedusa which cost the lives of more than 250 people, European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, addressing home affairs ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday 8 October, called on the EU to show real solidarity and to put in place an “extensive search and rescue operation that will cover the Mediterranean from Cyprus to Spain”. She also stressed the fight against illegal immigration networks, particularly in non-EU countries, resettling refugees - many Syrians are making their way towards Sicily - and the need to open legal immigration channels.
This discussion was held late in the day and no definite decisions were reached, though ministers might sharpen their response over the coming days with the Commission and set out the funding allocated to this new task, and the timetable. The European Council might also discuss the matter at the end of the month, said French Home Affairs Minister Manuel Valls. Malmstrom would like member states to allocate more resources to prevent such tragedies. She said after the meeting that there had to be more done at European level than in the past. Any operation would be led by Frontex, which, since 2004, has been responsible for monitoring the EU's external borders, with the deployment of increased numbers of patrols. If any measures are to be credible, the Frontex agency would have to be allocated more funding - its funding fell to €85 million in 2013 compared with €115 million in 2011. Two years ago, with the Arab Spring, the member states speeded up reform of Frontex to beef up its sea-based operations. The aim then was to develop the agency's “own resources” and enable it to jointly buy its equipment with the member states. There was also discussion of a European border guard, but the idea flagged somewhat, with some member states fearing loss of their sovereignty. This reform, widely publicised at the time with increasing numbers of migrants arriving and increasing numbers of shipwrecks, failed to provide the needed impetus, that is “the budget”, according to a source. And that is precisely what Commissioner Malmstrom sought from her counterparts on Tuesday. Italy, through its minister Angelino Alfano, called for an “action plan”. He did not, however, necessarily call for a review of the rules on spreading migrants throughout the member states - the Dublin II regulation which states that only the country by which the migrants arrived can deal with their asylum requests. Ministers had no intention of going back over that ground, member states having taken four years to agree the asylum package. “Dublin II must not be amended”, German minister Hans-Peter Friedrich is quoted by AFP as saying at the outset. “Germany is the country that handles the largest number of asylum requests in Europe”, the minister pointed out. His counterparts from Sweden, Tobias Billstrom, and Denmark, Morten Bodskov, followed his lead: the EU “has all the instruments it needs”, said Bodskov. According to Eurostat figures, in 2012, the largest number of asylum applicants was, indeed, registered in Germany (77,500 or 23% of all applicants), followed by France (60,600, or 18%), Sweden (43,900 or 13%), the United Kingdom (28,200 or 8%) and Belgium (28,100 or 8%) - figures which put the countries of the North in a strong debating position. (SP/transl.fl)