The European Union summit in Brussels will, undoubtedly, be dominated by the decision over who should be the new president of the European Commission. But there is one more issue that will be brought into the political mix.
Young, dynamic Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, whose country assumes the EU rotating presidency next week, is determined that Europe must take responsibility for rescuing migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Africa in their thousands by making a “significant investment” in the region’s border control agency, Frontex.
For the last nine months, Italy’s navy and coastguard have been patrolling the waters between North Africa and Sicily in Operation Mare Nostrum, at a cost of €9 million a month. More than 50,000 irregular immigrants were rescued by Italy in the last six months alone.
Mr Renzi has not minced his words: “A Europe that tells the Calabrian fisherman that he must use a certain technique to catch tuna but turns its back when there are dead bodies in the sea cannot call itself civilised.”
In another vividly striking prediction aimed at European political leaders, Human Rights Watch warned: “Without collective EU action, this summer could become the Mediterranean’s drowning season.”
The nub of the problem is Europe’s inability to get its act together on issues that directly affect the lives of its citizens, whether it is immigration or – another subject Mr Renzi will be pursuing – the inflexible application of austerity rules that have led to a lot of pain and unemployment, especially in eurozone countries.
The message of voter disillusion expressed in the European Parliament elections has still to register with EU leaders. The time for decisive action on immigration is long overdue. Italy predominantly, and Malta, Spain and Greece, have been left entirely isolated in coping with the growing avalanche of migrants arriving on their shores.
Among Northern European countries, the humanitarian impulse to save lives seems to be held hostage to the political need to curb immigration.
What is to be done?
The first thing is for EU leaders to give Italy and other front-line states the financial and material backing to continue their vital efforts to save lives at sea. Frontex has proved inadequate as it is entirely dependent on national air and naval assets to do its job and these have been notably lacking. Far better, therefore, that if Italy can be persuaded to carry on, the €9 million a month needed is directly invested in its Mare Nostrum mission.
Secondly, European Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, must be asked to explain why the ‘Mediterranean Task Force for the Mediterranean’, announced with fanfare nine months ago after the tragic loss of almost 400 lives, has made such dilatory progress. If political will to cooperate has been lacking, she should be asked to name the countries concerned.
But the crux of the issue is that there must be a change to the EU’s laws on asylum and its policies on immigration. This means inter alia making specific proposals for changes to the iniquitous Dublin II agreement to remove the current unfairness of a system which penalises front-line countries like Malta.
Alternatively, there must be burden-sharing through some form of mandatory relocation system that takes due account of the unique difficulties faced by Malta and other front-line states.
EU leaders must be persuaded to renew their commitment to mitigate the Mediterranean’s migration problems by finding practical and properly managed solutions on a European-wide basis to deal equitably with this tragic phenomenon.