The European Commission appears to have had a change of heart over its rejection of Malta’s urgent appeal to get other EU member states to take a share of the immigrants arriving on the island.
Sources said Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom was considering making a formal proproposal to member states to activate this emergency solidarity mechanism, as she continues to come under immense pressure to do so from MEPs.
MEPs want her to submit a proposal as early as next Monday during a Council meeting of Home Affairs Ministers.
The Commissioner’s shift in direction was also indicated in a formal letter she sent to the same ministers.
In the letter, seen by The Times, she appealed to member states to show real solidarity and highlighted the possibility of bringing the solidarity mechanism into force for the first time.
The mechanism, under the Temporary Protection Directive, would “provide immediate protection and reception in the territory of EU member states and give a ‘breathing space’ for the national asylum systems and promote voluntary solidarity measures between member states,” she wrote.
She underlined the need for concrete solidarity from member states particularly when it comes to resettlement as this “can represent not only a life-saving measure for those concerned but an important responsibility-sharing gesture” towards countries such as Italy and Malta.
Last Friday, Commissioner Malmstrom had ruled out proposing activation, saying the number of asylum seekers leaving Libya did not yet constitute “a massive influx” as required by the directive.
Sources said yesterday’s tragedy in the Mediterranean may have been a factor in the change of heart.
To be approved, the directive will need a qualified majority of the member states to vote for it. Speaking in the European Parliament last Monday, Com-missioner Malmstrom said this majority did not yet exist.
Malta is so far the only member state that has officially called for the activation of the emergency mechanism. Italy, which has received thousands of immigrants over the past few weeks, mainly from Tunisia, has not yet seen the need to join Malta in making a formal appeal.
Yesterday it was reported that Italy and Tunisia had struck a deal to choke off the flood of Tunisians heading to Italian shores, with Rome agreeing to give short-term residency papers to 20,000 illegal migrants but intent on deporting new arrivals.
Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil urged the Commission to take political leadership and not wait for member states to form a majority. “My appeal goes directly to you, President Barroso, to activate the mechanism and to you President Van Rompy, to tell member states to show concrete solidarity,” he said.
The same appeals were echoed during an urgent press conference held by representatives of all the main political groups in the Parliament to brief journalists about the latest tragic news of immigrant deaths in the Mediterranean.
The event’s coordinator, Portugal’s Rui Tavares from the European United Left, slammed the Commission for its inaction and said the tragedy unfolding in the Southern Mediterranean showed the EU’s inability to act.
“We don’t know why the Commission is taking so long to propose the activation of the solidarity mechanism,” he said.
“This has now become an emergency if we want to avoid further tragedies. I hope that EU Justice Ministers will have this proposal on their table next Monday.”