EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström in Malta yesterday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Frontex would not replace Mare Nostrum, the Italian migrants rescue mission, European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said yesterday.

“Frontex does not have the funds or the assets to take over the Italian mission. It is up to Italy to decide whether it wants to stop its mission or not but Frontex will definitely not replace the Italian mission,” she said.

Speaking during a short visit to Malta, Ms Malmström reiterated that Frontex Plus, as the mission has been dubbed by the Italian media, would be “a much smaller mission” than the Italian operation, which has already saved the lives of about 100,000 migrants crossing over to the EU on rogue boats from North Africa.

Following a meeting with her Italian counterpart, Angelino Alfano in Brussels last week, it was announced that Frontex would soon be calling upon EU member states to declare whether they would be able to offer assets, such as ships and helicopters, and personnel to take part in an enlarged anti-migration mission in the Mediterranean coordinated by the EU border agency.

We are very pleased with the Italian initiative and we want to lend a supporting hand to them through this mission. However, the EU can never do what the Italians are doing

Although the Italian media interpreted the move as a replacement of Mare Nostrum, an Italian-funded sea and air mission aimed at saving the lives of irregular migrants finding themselves in distress, the commissioner said that would not be the case.

“We are still finalising the details of the mission, in which areas it will operate and what assets do we need to have. We hope that, in the coming days, Frontex will be in a position to issue invitation letters to member states to make their commitments.”

Ms Malmström invited Malta to participate in the mission.

“We are very pleased with the Italian initiative and we want to lend a supporting hand to them through this mission. However, the EU can never do what the Italians are doing”, she said.

Mare Nostrum is costing the Italian government about €10 million a month and the cash-strapped government is under intense pressure by the Opposition to stop it.

Since its inception last October, it has had a very positive effect on Malta as the number of arriving irregular migrants have almost stopped.

Ms Malmström said that, during her visit to Malta, she met a number of ministers and discussed with them the progress achieved in the asylum sector.

She said that the European Commission was still worried about “the systematic use of detention by the Maltese authorities” adding that the policy had to be looked at together with the better management of unaccompanied minors.

At the same time she acknowledged that Malta had made significant improvements over the last years.

Reacting to criticism that Malta was left alone to deal with irregular migration, the commissioner said this was “not a fair assessment of the situation”.

“We have helped Malta immensely, particularly through financial help and will continue to do so,” she said.

However, she admitted that more concrete solidarity had to be given by other member states. Despite perceptions, it was a fact that the northern EU member states were still the ones taking the largest share of asylum seekers, Ms Malmström said.