European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced that funding for the “Triton” program of Frontex would be tripled following the extraordinary meeting of the European Council on Migration. The council came following the recent tragedy that saw the loss of over 900 lives when a boat filled with refugees overturned off the coast of Libya.
Juncker said that 220 mln euros would be benchmarked for the program, upgrading it to the same level as the Mare Nostrum program of Italy.
European Council President D. Tusk said:
Good evening. Today, we discussed the dramatic situation in the Mediterranean at the highest political level. Saving the lives of innocent people is the number one priority. But saving lives is not just about rescuing people at sea. It is also about stopping the smugglers and addressing irregular migration.
Let me be clear. Europe did not cause this tragedy. But that does not mean we can be indifferent. We are facing a difficult summer and we need to be ready to act. Therefore, leaders have agreed four priority areas for action.
First, leaders have asked the High Representative to propose actions in order to capture and destroy the smugglers’ vessels before they can be used. Naturally, this will be in line with international law and respect for human rights. We will step up co-operation against smuggling networks by working through Europol, and by deploying immigration officers to third countries.
Second, we have agreed to triple the resources available to Triton, our border mission in the Central Mediterranean, and to enhance its operational capability. The mission will continue to carry out its mandate and respond to distress calls where necessary. I am happy to announce that leaders have already pledged significantly greater support, including many more vessels, aircraft and experts, and money.
Third, we need to limit irregular migration flows and to discourage people from putting their lives at risk. This means better co-operation with the countries of origin and transit, especially the countries around Libya.
Finally, we will do more on refugee protection. The European Union will help front-line Member States under pressure and co-ordinate the resettlement of more people to Europe on a voluntary basis, and with an option for emergency relocation. For those who do not qualify as refugees, we will operate an effective returns policy.
Leaders had no illusions that we would solve this international human emergency today. Therefore, we have tasked the Commission, the Council and the High Representative to step up their work based on what we have now agreed. This issue remains our priority and the European Council will come back to it in June.
As a final remark, let me repeat that the European Union is completely opposed to the death penalty. It cannot be the answer to drug trafficking. I am referring here to Mr Atlaoui, the French citizen who has been condemned by the Indonesian authorities. Thank you.
Lost opportunity
The European Council found that one of the greatest weaknesses of member states was failure to agree upon a framework to share the burden of immigration with countries like Italy, Greece and Malta bearing the brunt of the murden.
During the European Council meeting, Juncker had tried to secure resettlement across Europe for 10,000 refugees. Instead he had to settle for a project on resettlement for those qualifying for protection. A lower 5,000 places was discarded on the basis that it was too small to be taken seriously.
Following the meeting, he told reporters that he would have liked for the program to be more ambitious.
Schulz wants humane and realistic program
Europe should come up with a common asylum and migration policy that is humane and realistic, European Parliament President Martin Schulz warned EU leaders. The EP President was speaking at the start of an extraordinary European summit dedicated to migration after hundreds of people died in one week trying to cross the Mediterranean. Schulz said: “Our immediate priority must be to save lives at sea.”
Schulz said there was no such thing an EU migration policy and that instead we had a patchwork of 28 different national systems: “The lack of a truly European asylum and migration policy is now turning the Mediterranean into a graveyard.”
The President said search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean should be stepped up quickly, while common European action should take place in a spirit of solidarity with a fair sharing of responsibilities. Schulz said it was not fair to let countries that border the Mediterranean deal with migration on their own.
In addition Schulz pleaded for the same procedural guarantees throughout the EU to ensure refugees are treated fairly and equally, more possibilities to enter the EU legally, as well as closer cooperation with the countries of origin and transit. “We must fight the causes of migration, not the migrants,” he stressed.
CLICK HERE for a text of the full speech.
PM A. Tsipras, positive for Greece
Greek Radical Left Coalition Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saw an increase in funding to combat illegal human trafficking as a positive sign. “Along with other countries of the European South, we managed to get through a special reference to collaborating not just with countries from where the migrants are coming from but also with countries they pass through, especially Turkey,” he noted.
He said that humane conditions for refugees are necessary as is the restriction of the migration flow to Europe. “We reinforced the view that there needs to be a fairer sharing of the responsibility,” he said.
Coffin carrying migrants
Migrants marched the streets of Brussels with wooden coffins, holiding a symbolic funeral for the 900 migrants who died at sea on Sunday. Their boat sank while people were locked in the hold. Only 28 people were rescued.
More statements and transcripts of speeches from the agreement:The EESC statement
In response to the deaths of thousands of people in the Mediterranean, the EESC plenary session, with deep sorrow and indignation, once again calls on the institutions of the European Union and Member States to take the necessary humanitarian actions and political decisions. The European Union has a responsibility to people fleeing war, persecution, conflict and poverty.
A year and a half after the catastrophe in Lampedusa, tragedies continue to take place every day. Regarding the 10-point plan adopted by the EU Foreign and Home Affairs Ministers on 20 April, the EESC considers that it is essential to go beyond a security approach. A humanitarian approach, solidarity and a fair sharing of responsibilities should be the essential principles of a common immigration policy in the EU.
The EESC urges the European Council to consider the following steps at its extraordinary meeting on 23 April:
- To launch a large-scale humanitarian rescue and reception operation in the Mediterranean Sea that goes further than the Frontex border control mission, “Triton”. Any such mission should have the same approach as the Italian “Mare Nostrum” operation and aim to save lives. Member States should be involved, but missions should be funded by the EU. The EU must improve its asylum policy. The EESC has drawn up various proposals for the creation of a common asylum system, but adopted legislation is insufficient and not properly implemented by the Member States. Displaced persons are protected by international law and should be able to lodge applications for asylum at the EU’s external borders, respecting the principle of non-refoulement at the borders. An ambitious review of the Dublin Regulation is vital.
- The EU must foster solidarity among Member States, in particular through a proportional distribution of refugees. Urgent measures are required to provide financial, operational and reception support to those Member States which, because of their geographical location, have the greatest burden. The amount of places for resettlement should be increased significantly.
- The EU should strengthen its cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and with countries neighbouring conflict zones, in order to implement programmes for reception and protection of the thousands of people displaced. Large scale Search and Rescue operations for immigrants at sea cannot be left to be carried out by commercial shipping. The EU should cooperate with the International Maritime Organization (IMO). EU and Member States’ immigration laws and policies should be revised to ease admission. The EESC insists that policy must be based on a consensus providing legal, open and flexible channels of entry into the EU, ensuring the protection of fundamental rights and including as an essential element cooperation with the countries of origin. Cooperation should be reinforced in order to set up offices in third countries providing assistance and information to potential migrants. The whole global community must be requested to take responsibility to try to find proper solutions.
- Enhance police and judicial cooperation in the fight against criminal networks trafficking persons. The EU should work with the countries of origin and transit to prevent people from falling into the hands of traffickers. Smuggling and trafficking are criminal offences and those responsible should be relentlessly pursued. The EESC insists, however, that neither the migrants themselves nor those delivering humanitarian assistance to migrants in distress should be criminalised.
- In order to sustain a comprehensive policy approach, all the humanitarian organisations active in the areas affected should be given every possible financial and logistical assistance.
Solutions will only be efficient in the long term if wars can be brought to an end and, in the countries affected by conflict, adequate levels of political, economic and social stability established. The European External Action Service, in cooperation with the international community, should make a strategy of this kind their priority.
HR VP Federico Mogherini
Upon arrival at the meeting, High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini said:
I think that today we have maybe the chance of taking responsibility, at the highest political level with the Heads of State and Government: understanding that this is a tragedy not only for the people who die at sea and the countries that save them and host them, but for all Europeans, the European community.
We’ll respond in a European way, in a concrete way to this tragedy: this is about saving lives, it’s about protecting people, it’s about protecting human rights and security, which are some of the core fundamental values around which the European Union was built and is still built.
We will discuss, as you know, we have discussed this with the Foreign Ministers already on Monday with the Interior Ministers, with very good steps taken also to prepare this meeting. So now it is in the hands of Heads of State and Government, and I’m confident they can take a good decision.
Latvian EU Presidency
Latvian PM Laimdota Straujuma, whose country is currently at the helm of the rotating EU presidency, said: “I am pleased with the outcome of today’s European Council. It is inexcusable to profit and benefit from other people’s misfortune, so it is important to stop human smuggling activities in the Mediterranean Sea as soon as possible.”
She called for the EU “Triton” and “Poseidon” operations to be strengthened by tripling their financial and material resources. Triton is a coordinated joint operation by the Frontex Agency requested by Italy and launched on November 1, 2014, whereas Poseidon is a joint maritime operation to ensure maritime border surveillance using technical equipment and experts provided by the Member States in order to reduce the threat of illegal immigration at Greece’s (EU) external borders.
“Latvia is also ready to offer its support to the Member States affected by the refugee flows. We are ready to offer our expert help to speed up the processing of asylum requests, along with technical support in the form of helicopters, patrol boats, mobile surveillance vehicles and border control experts,” said Straujuma.
