On Tuesday 23 July, the European Commission welcomed the results of the Paris Ministerial meeting, held the previous day, during which fourteen Member States - eight of them more specifically - showed their interest in a stable solidarity mechanism for the disembarkation in the European Union of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea (see EUROPE 12301/4).
The European institution described the support given to the Franco-German proposal presented to the European Ministers of the Interior in Helsinki on 18 July as an “important step” (see EUROPE 12300/4), consisting of an automatic relocation of migrants who have landed.
This “progress” will allow new developments to be made in early September in Malta at a new Ministerial meeting, said Natasha Bertaud, spokesperson.
Of the fourteen States, eight have “actively” participated in this system, including, in addition to Germany and France, Portugal, Luxembourg, Finland, Lithuania, Croatia and Ireland. The system provides for the distribution of disembarked persons formally seeking asylum among participating countries as quickly as possible.
In exchange, Italy and Malta would agree to open their ports. Opposed to this principle, however, the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini, boycotted the Paris meeting.
For their part, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed the results of the meeting. A “consensus has been reached on the need to end the arbitrary detention of refugees and migrants in Libya”, the two organisations said in a statement. They added: “Given the risk of abuse, ill-treatment or death, no one should be sent back to detention centres in Libya after being intercepted or rescued at sea”.
For IOM and UNHCR, “the renewed commitment of States (...) to prevent loss of human life in the Mediterranean is also encouraging”. The same applies to the “discussions on the establishment of a temporary and predictable mechanism for the disembarkation of persons after their rescue at sea and the sharing of responsibility between States for their subsequent reception”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)