Brussels, 20/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 20 April, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, decided to arrange a Special Summit for Thursday 23 April. This will focus on the situation in the Mediterranean, following another ship sinking and the deaths of 700 people leaving Libya for the coast of Lampedusa in the night of 18-19 April. Last week, almost 450 people died after the ships they were on sank.
Speaking in a video message, Tusk from Poland, explained that this summit should provide the EU 28 with an opportunity for examining what resources can be used to fight against the traffickers, strengthen the action taken by the sea rescue services and help the member states that are most affected by the arrival of migrants by stepping up cooperation with third countries. On Sunday 19 April, faced with the outcry provoked by the sinking of the ship, the Presidency of the European Council decided to arrange an emergency joint foreign and home affairs meeting on Monday 20 April in Luxembourg. This meeting was expected to provide them with an outline for responding to the increasing numbers of ships sinking in these waters since the beginning of 2015. More than 1,000 people have so far perished in this stretch of water this year. The meeting was arranged before the heads of state and government were called to take a number of political decisions necessary on Thursday.
The European ministers have been heavily criticised for what has been described as their lack of action in the Mediterranean, particularly after the ending of the Mare Nostrum operation in October 2014. This operation was in charge of patrolling the Libyan coast. It has been “replaced” by the Triton operation, which has a much more modest intervention zone to cover. On Monday, the European ministers debated the possibility of extending the Triton operation and whether it could be provided with more resources and vessels (it should be pointed out that the Italian Mare Nostrum operation was carried out between October 2013 and October 2014). It helped saved the lives of more than 150,000 migrants. Nonetheless, as this working day came to an end, ministers did still not appear to have given their approval for an operation of a similar scope.
The Commission, however, was more focused on what happened on Sunday and expressed its “deep sadness” and shock that this new sinking had provoked. It called for the implementation of “immediate measures” and said that it was convinced that the ultimate remedy for tackling these shipwrecks essentially consisted of tackling the roots of the problem in the countries of origin. On Monday a number of different European sources said that an outline of what immediate action would be taken appeared to be taking shape and according to the Commission should be a reinforced kind of European Mare Nostrum rescue operation. This is also what the Latvian Home Secretary, Rihards Kozlovskis, suggested when he spoke in favour of this kind of extensive operation.
10-Point Plan
In Luxembourg, this was not what was officially proposed by the Greek Commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos. At this stage he was only willing to call on the different ministers to beef up Triton's resources but did not say what these resources would be. He also mentioned strengthening the resources in the Poseidon operation, as well as extending the operation zone for Triton. The question of Frontex's mandate and the addition to its prerogatives of a rescue mission was not discussed. As part of a 10-point plan, Greece proposed, “destroying” the ships used by the traffickers and strengthening cooperation between Frontex/Europol, as well as with third countries. The Commissioner also proposed that the EU provide resettlement places for refugees (a figure of 5,000 was mentioned) and that the possibility of an emergency migrant distribution mechanism be examined.
Other measures appeared to be a little more security focused, such as member states being encouraged to take digital fingerprints from asylum seekers. Digital fingerprinting was one of the operational conditions covered in the Dublin Regulation, despite it having being criticised, as well as the implementation of a new mechanism for voluntary returns that would be overseen by Frontex.
In Luxembourg, the first objective was to gauge political support from member states for this kind of action, despite the fact that this support had certainly not been a done deal over the past few days. The Latvian Home Secretary promised that “We will be looking at the implementation of these 10 points” and underlined that the Commission communication planned for 13 May was eagerly awaited. According to the diplomats present in Luxembourg, a consensus could be outlined on increasing the funds allocated to the Triton operation but the question of the Frontex operation is more likely to be tackled on Thursday during the European Leaders' Summit.
The Mare Nostrum operation, which was costing Rome an eye-watering €9 million per month, did not have the support in principle of the other member states, most of which feared that it would have the effect of encouraging more to try to make the crossing to Europe. EU home affairs ministers, then, gave their approval in November of last year to the launch of Triton, a Frontex Agency operation, backed initially by 21 member states though this number later fell, able as it was only to intervene within the 30-mile zone and restricted in its mandate to border control and not able to carry out search and rescue at sea. Planned, in the first instance, for two months, Triton was then extended until the end of 2015 by the European Commission which found an envelope of almost €20 million; its monthly budget, however, is below €3 million and its fleet consists merely of two planes, one helicopter and seven ships. “And the Frontex budget for 2015 has been used up”, a European source observed on Monday 20 April.
Cooperation with Africa.
In Luxembourg, ministers also discussed other courses of action, including cooperation with third countries and the countries neighbouring Libya in an attempt to prevent departures for Europe from the Libyan coast, and also the suggestion of the commissioner that ships used in the crossings be “seized” and the stock of vessels be reduced by means of a military-type operation.
With regard to the first of these possibilities, border guards of countries such as Tunisia and Egypt would be responsible for making an assessment of those looking to make the crossing and their chances of being granted asylum in Europe, as well as their likeliness to return voluntarily if their requests were turned down. Reception centres for migrants could also be put in place in third countries - Tunisia and Egypt and also Sudan and Niger - where the International Migration Organisation or the EU would conduct interviews and determine which migrants were likely to be granted protection. These are not new ideas, however, having been tabled by foreign and home affairs ministers in March.
The Commission will also meet a delegation from the African Union in Brussels on Wednesday 22 April. This meeting, which was arranged before these dramatic events, should provide an opportunity once again to discuss possibilities for cooperation. In the longer term still, there is the idea of setting up a permanent European border guard corps. The Commission has long argued for such an initiative but, until recent months, with little effect. (Solenn Paulic with Camille Gessant)