EU leaders to discuss Libya crisis next week

All 27 EU leaders will attend an extraordinary summit meeting in Brussels next week with Libya being the main item on the agenda.

EU diplomats said yesterday the meeting of eurozone leaders, scheduled for March 11, was transformed into a full-blown summit meeting to discuss the turmoil in North Africa.

Also on the agenda will be the consequences the unrest could have on the EU, particularly the fear of a mass exodus of asylum seekers towards European borders, especially Malta and Italy.

Being on Libya’s doorstep, Malta is taking the issue very seriously and is mulling the possibility of hosting a Frontex mission aimed at managing the possible “exodus” of Libyans trying to flee to Europe. Frontex director Illka Laitinen will be having meetings in Malta today to discuss these plans.

Government sources said Malta was studying the possibility of hosting a Frontex-led mission patrolling the stretch between Libya, Malta and Sicily “if the conditions requested by Malta are met”.

Speaking during a debate on Libya at the European Parliament yesterday, Mr Laitinen conceded Malta was “currently under constant pressure” and he would be discussing the possibility of EU help in the management of the humanitarian crisis and evacuation operation with the Maltese authorities.

Sources said last week that, in view of the Libyan crisis, Malta offered to host a Frontex humanitarian mission, which would also aim to control the situation in case of an unprecedented influx from Libya.

However, the island is making it clear it will only agree to host such a mission if the Frontex mission guidelines now in place do not apply.

According to controversial guidelines approved last year, a member state hosting a Frontex mission will have to accept all irregular immigrants and asylum seekers found in the area patrolled during the mission.

During yesterday’s debate, Mr Leitinen said Frontex was looking at different scenarios that could develop if the turmoil in Libya was not contained. He said the agency had drawn up six different plans to be put in place depending on the situation.

He stressed the agency was still trying “to find a host country and member states to participate” to be in a position to launch its Libya mission.

Malta was in for a lot of praise during yesterday’s debate with many MEPs commending its response to the crisis and the Hungarian EU presidency thanking the island for its “heroic performance”.

Delving into the proposal of six EU-Mediterranean member states, including Malta, to establish a burden sharing mechanism to deal with a possible Libyan exodus, European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that, although she agreed in principle, “there is no appetite yet in the EU for such an initiative”.

Intervening after Ms Malmström’s comments, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil said what was happening in Libya was extraordinary and required an extraordinary solution. “Malta and Italy cannot take the burden alone. The time will soon arrive when EU member states will have to stand up and be counted,” he insisted.