Brussels, 10/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Eurosur system, presented a something of a silver bullet that will allow the EU to avoid an further tragedies like the one off Lampedusa on 3 October when over 300 African migrants lost their lives, was adopted by the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday 10 October. The report by Jan Mulder (ALDE, Netherlands) amending the proposed regulation on establishing a European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) was passed by a large majority (479 votes to 101, with 20 abstentions).
After being debated on Wednesday evening, the new communication system will enable member states to share real-time images and data on developments at the EU's external borders.
The proposed regulation will set up a secure network for the exchange of information in real time between border surveillance authorities. On the basis of the information gathered, overviews of the situation on Europe's borders and the level of risk on each section of the border will be prepared. It is a system that should improve the detection, prevention and combating of irregular immigration and cross-border crime.
Saving lives at sea. It is more than this, however, as Parliament included within its tasks that of saving the lives of migrants at sea. This was not easily achieved. The Greens/EFA Group tried to have several amendments adopted stressing the need for Eurosur to have saving lives at sea with its remit. Rapporteur Mulder, however, opposed this, saying that a single mention in the report of saving lives at sea was sufficient and that three amendments on this same line might be detrimental to the balance of the agreement. Saving lives at sea is not a responsibility of the EU and MEPs did not want to make it central to EU migration policy, as the Greens were demanding.
Mulder says the new system should, however, fulfill this objective. “Only by having a pan-European border surveillance system we can prevent the Mediterranean from becoming a graveyard for refugees”, he argued.
Under the terms of the regulation, EU countries using Eurosur will be required always to respect human rights, including the “non-refoulement” principle, which prohibits the return of a person to a place where his/her life or freedoms could be threatened. Furthermore, member states must not use Eurosur to “send third countries any information that could be used to identify a person whose request for international protection is being processed or whose life or physical integrity could be at risk”, a Parliament press release states.
European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom welcomed the outcome of the vote and reminded member states that they will have to work hard to avoid any repetition of the tragedies, such as the one off Lampedusa at the start of the month.
Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland will start using Eurosur on 2 December 2013. Other member states will follow suit on 1 December 2014.
Modest budget. The budget allocated to Eurosur, however, will be very modest, as Dominique Riquet (EPP, France), rapporteur on the Eurosur budget, pointed out on Wednesday. It will receive €16 million from the internal security fund and €19 million per year from the Frontex budget. Frontex, the border surveillance agency, despite being called on to do more after the 3 October tragedy, will therefore see its already threadbare budget further cut by €19 million. The Frontex budget was €80.9 (before the removal of the €19 million) over the EU's next multiannual financial framework (MFF) from 2014 to 2020 - the same as under the current MFF. “The member states have given nothing to the EU, not responsibility for research and safety at sea in the treaties, nor a significant budget for external border surveillance”, complained Riquet. The means made available by the EU for surveillance of its entire external border stands, then, at less than €100 million per year, out of a total budget of €142 billion. (SP/transl.fl)