The EU's patrols off the coast of Malta aimed to stem the flow of illegal immigration will kick off in the coming days, EU sources have told The Sunday Times.
The news comes after 28 illegal immigrants arrived in Malta last Wednesday, the first boatload of the year in what is dubbed the start of the illegal immigration 'season'.
This year's patrols co-ordinated by the Frontex agency will be more widespread, the sources said. Frontex has decided to dedicate more money and staff to this important operation on the central Mediterranean route. In all, 10 member states will be dedicating their resources and the operation will last at least 23 weeks.
This is the biggest anti-immigration assault to be launched by the EU in the Mediterranean. Last year, the patrol mission lasted two months and was interrupted during the peak of the season in August.
This year's mission, called Nautilus III, will again cover the strait between Sicily, Malta and Libya although it is still not yet clear whether Libya's search and rescue area will also be included. The sources said Tripoli had not yet confirmed to Frontex whether it would collaborate.
Frontex and the EU have been trying to engage Libya in these operations for the past three years. But despite the promises made by Libyan authorities, they have yet to take part. Most of the illegal immigrants arriving on the shores of Malta and Lampedusa depart from Libyan ports.
Contacted at Frontex's headquarters in Warsaw, the agency's spokesman declined to say precisely when the mission would begin. Citing "security considerations", the spokesman only said that the mission should be well advanced by May.
"I cannot inform you about the start date. The reason is simple - it can have a real influence on the course of the operation," the spokesman said, who added that experience had shown that the less said about the start of this mission, the better.
"Last year, when we announced the start date of the mission we realised there was a strong pull factor for migration flows from Africa towards Malta and Lampedusa. In fact, three to four weeks before the start of the operation the number of migrants arriving to Malta increased drastically."
MEP Simon Busuttil, the European Parliament's spokesman on Frontex who was instrumental in increasing this year's Frontex budget, also declined to comment on the date.
"Frontex is very secretive about the date. All I know is that the mission should be starting very soon. I was at Frontex last week in Warsaw and we discussed in detail the Nautilus III mission. This year's patrols should be more effective and will cover the entire immigration season - the full six months. The start is imminent."
Dr Busuttil is insisting that as from next year these missions will start being conducted on a permanent basis - without interruption - in the central Mediterranean as well as in other immigration hotspots.
"I will discuss this matter with the director of Frontex and I will work to increase the agency's budget sufficiently so that the agency will have sufficient financial resources to run this and other important missions throughout the entire year," Dr Busuttil said. Following a €30 million (Lm12.88m) budget increase for 2008, Frontex has earmarked more than €8 million (Lm3.47m) specifically to be used for this year's mission.
According to Ilkka Laitinen, the agency's executive director, last year's anti-immigration mission in the Mediterranean, conducted in two stages during July and September, yielded positive results, leading to a marked reduction in the number of illegal immigrants arriving in Malta.
Frontex started its patrol missions off Malta in 2006 with a three-week experimental mission. The EU agency covers 80 per cent of the expenses of these missions through its budget.