A new Mediterranean border patrol mission planned by EU agency Frontex is still on the drawing board as Malta and Italy negotiate who would take the migrants rescued.
The discussions, between Malta, Italy and the European Commission, centre on the rules of engagement for the new Triton mission but the stumbling block is who would take any migrants rescued during the operation.
Malta and Italy have squabbled over this issue for years. While Malta insists that according to international law migrants should be taken to the nearest safe port, successive Italian governments have argued that they should be taken to the country coordinating the rescue.
Given the size of the search and rescue area that Malta is responsible for, stretching roughly from Tunisia to Crete, the Italian interpretation of maritime law would mean Malta would take practically all migrants picked up.
Our mandate is primarily border management
Frontex executive director Gil Arias-Fernandez told Times of Malta the agency would only ask for funds and assets after an agreement is reached.
“We feel that this question (of disembarkation) needs to be settled before we make a formal appeal for commitments to the member states,” he said.
The agency does not own assets and relies on aircraft and boats of EU countries. Though a call for assets has not been made, the Spanish agency chief said France, Germany, Spain and Finland had informally committed boats and aircraft to the mission.
The Triton operation has been widely seen as a replacement for Italy’s Mare Nostrum mission, which was launched in the wake of the Lampedusa disasters, when more than 700 people died in two incidents last October.
Italy has been threatening to stop the €10 million-a-month mission, insisting it could not sustain it alone. However, Mr Arias-Fernandez was keen to stress that the Frontex operation is independent from the Italian mission.
“I don’t know and cannot say if Mare Nostrum will be stopped but what I would like to stress is that one has nothing to do with the other,” he said.
One thing which is clearly different between the two missions is where they will be operating from.
The Italian vessels are operating practically outside Libyan waters and intercepting migrants very early on, which explains why Malta received very few migrants this year.
The Frontex mission, on the other hand, would be based closer to European shores, which would probably change patterns of arrival.
When questioned about this, Mr Arias-Fernandez pointed out that the agency’s mission is essentially one of border control.
“I have to underline again that Mare Nostrum is a different mission. It has clearly been given a search and rescue mandate. Although Frontex would honour its search and rescue obligations under international law as it always does, our mandate is primarily border management,” he said.
He argued that Frontex would not even have the assets to be able to do what Mare Nostrum has been doing, seeing as the vessels usually placed at the disposal of the agency are coastguard-type ships.
Italy, on the other hand, has been deploying warships which have a bigger range and can stay out at sea longer.
Frontex has also been pointing out that Mare Nostrum has been a pull factor.
Earlier this month, Mr Arias-Fernandez told MEPs forming part of the Civil Liberties Committee that people smugglers were exploiting the fact that the Italians were going closer to the Italian shores.
“Criminals, of course, know about Mare Nostrum and so they are sending more people on less seaworthy vessels, supplying them with less fuel and food. Their operation has become cheaper,” he said.
“The number of voyages had increased too,” he added.
Call for ‘humanitarian’ visas
The EU should establish safe and legal means of accessing protection through humanitarian visas to people seeking refuge in Europe, 10 NGOs who work with migrants said in a joint statement yesterday.
“We would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of those who tragically lost their lives off the coast of Malta in recent weeks. With very limited legal and safe ways of entering the EU... thousands of refugees are driven to North African shores to embark of life-threatening journeys,” the NGOs said.
The prevention of these tragedies cannot be postponed any longer, they insisted, arguing that the EU should establish humanitarian visas and revisit its limitation on the right to family reunification for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, potentially saving thousands of lives. They also called on member states to increase their annual refugee resettlement quota.
“We are concerned that European Union and member state policies of containment and the over-securitisation of external borders seem to have contributed to the proliferation of the unscrupulous smuggling networks that exploit the right to seek asylum and the desperate need to remain alive.”
The statement was issued by Aditus foundation, Foundation for Shelter and Support of Migrants, Integra Foundation, Jesuit Refugee Service (Malta), KOPIN, Malta Emigrants’ Commission, Migrants’ Network for Equality, Organisation for Friendship in Diversity, People for Change Foundation, and SOS Malta.