Patrols to be launched as EU awaits Libya's answer

The European Commission has decided to go ahead with its planned sea patrols although Libya has yet to say whether it is willing to cooperate with the EU's border control agency's joint missions off Malta in a bid to curb illegal immigration.

Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said yesterday the Commission will announce the start of the missions next week.

"We have asked the Libyan authorities to sanction our patrols in their territorial waters. The Maltese government believes it is very important for the patrolling mission to start. Other member states would prefer to wait for an answer from Libya. My opinion is that this first mission should start in any case. This will send Malta a positive message of European solidarity and show Libya that we want to cooperate with them," Mr Frattini said.

Commission sources said the Commission's request to Tripoli was made over a month ago and consisted of an authorisation for the EU patrols to enter Libyan territorial waters and for a commitment to take back illegal immigrants found leaving Libyan territorial waters. Despite several "diplomatic reminders" by Commission officials, Libya has not signalled any commitment yet.

Mr Frattini reiterated that Libyan cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration would help Malta immensely and contribute to halt the influx of illegal immigrants.

He recalled a similar situation between Albania and Italy and said that when the Albanian government granted permission to the Italian authorities to patrol its territorial waters, crossings by hundreds of boat people across the Adriatic stopped almost completely.

Frontex, the European border control agency, is working on a plan to launch two joint patrol missions against illegal immigration this summer - one on the western Mediterranean catering for the Spain-Morocco route and the other for the central Mediterranean covering the Malta-Libya strait.

Commission sources said patrols will become much more effective if Libya came onboard. While on the western route Morocco has a repatriation agreement with the EU and all illegal immigrants found on that route can technically be sent back, the situation is not the same in the central Mediterranean because there is no repatriation agreement between the EU and Libya or between Malta and Libya.

According to a European Parliament fact-finding mission to Libya last December, led by Maltese MEP Simon Busuttil, Libya's 2,000 kilometre coast is guarded by only two small patrol boats. The Commission sources said Brussels was hoping that, due to the strong historic relations between the two countries, Libya would have been more prone to help Malta.

The need for Libya to cooperate more on illegal immigration with the EU was raised by Mr Frattini last May during talks with President Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

Mr Frattini had quoted Col. Gaddafi as saying that Libya was ready to commit itself to closer cooperation with the EU to fight human trafficking.