MEPs from the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties tried, on Thursday 6 July, to obtain explanations and firm promises from the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, and the Executive Director of the Frontex agency, Hans Leijtens, following the shipwreck off the coast of Greece on 13 June, which left 78 people dead and potentially more than 600 missing.
In particular, the MEPs wanted to know whether this tragedy could have been avoided and how to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future.
However, the Commissioner was quick to decline the request made by some MEPs to organise a major European search and rescue mission at sea. “This is not a competence of the European Union, but of the Member States; the Commission may, however, assist and coordinate an operation” carried out by Member States.
In the Commissioner’s view, it is essentially by forging partnerships with third countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt, and by combating smugglers, that arrivals to the EU can be curbed. “But working with Libya remains more complicated”, with “criminal groups infiltrating the coastguards”, the Commissioner also acknowledged. In a subsequent debate, the MEPs once again highlighted the violence suffered by migrants in the country.
We also need to work with the countries of origin - the Commissioner praised her “good relations” with Pakistan and Bangladesh - and develop legal channels.
Turning more specifically to the shipwreck, the Commissioner told a rather sceptical audience of the Greek intentions, having received “assurances” from the Greek government that light would be shed, that a “naval court” would look into the facts and that an investigation had been launched by the Public Prosecutor.
A number of facts remain “obscure”, the Commissioner acknowledged, while the Greek coastguard is also accused of having concealed evidence and prevented survivors from testifying.
The director of Frontex, for his part, recalled the various actions taken by his agency on the day of the shipwreck, Frontex having been able to inform the Greek government of the existence of a boat in distress, but not having been able to go to the scene. “We had 12 ships in this area, but it would have taken 2 days for the first one to arrive on site”, said the Dutchman. “We were only able to provide information” to the relevant Greek centre.
In any case, the Executive Director said he was open to participating in the independent international inquiry requested by the members of the committee.
“I can assure you that Frontex is committed to protecting our borders, but is also committed to humanitarian aid: we will continue to do so”, added the director of Frontex, saying that he was also ready to develop closer and more upstream cooperation with all those involved in search and rescue at sea in order to intervene “at an earlier stage than when a boat is already in difficulty”.
Asked about the possibility of Frontex withdrawing from Greece under Article 46 of the Regulation, the Dutchman urged caution, wondering whether such a withdrawal would not result in more deaths at sea.
Report by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)
In a report published on 6 July, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) identified six areas for action to prevent these tragedies.
The FRA is calling on the Commission, Member States and EU agencies to “act now”, according to a press release. The agency’s suggestions include:
- rapid, effective and independent investigations. Member States should call on the expertise of bodies specialised in human rights for these investigations;
- improving search and rescue at sea: the European Commission and Member States should agree to exchange search and rescue protocols and develop best practices. The Commission should also consider linking EU funding for maritime border management to the use of protocols that guarantee rapid assistance to people in danger at sea;
- clear disembarkation rules and greater solidarity with a special mechanism for people rescued at sea;
- better protection for survivors through European legislation that would place them in a specific category of asylum seekers with special needs;
- independent border monitoring;
- more accessible legal routes to the EU.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/7y8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)