EUROPE

“Let the migrants drown” is the perceived UK policy about people trying to reach Italy. The reality is perhaps more complex: it is more of an EU policy. And, as with so many other policies, it is beset within the EU by issues of national sovereignty and by clashing national views about the best way forward and who should pay the bills.

At its birth, the European Commission was given the task of developing laws and regulations, upon which the Council of Ministers could either agree or demand reconsideration. (The initial narrow set of topics for which they were competent has progressively expanded.) Each Commissioner runs a well-staffed Directorate (with civil servants initially seconded from their home nations, keen to get permanent status and continue to benefit from the salaries, allowances and tax breaks that are available in Brussels) and also has his or her own “cabinet” of young, ambitious and intelligent politicians. Each national government has a diplomatic mission to the EU to provide a further route to monitoring and influencing events. Also, each domestic ministry (e.g. Environment or Justice) has its team of people who deal with the EU. In those networks, it was possible to argue a logical case for improving proposals for bad regulations. Now, the Parliament has a “co-decision” role (with one or more rapporteurs appointed to shepherd bills) and it contains various committees who will take a special interest. This means that decisions are not taken solely on the basis of cold logic, but involve emotions – and consideration of losses of votes – and salary plus expenses – in the next round of elections.

To which of the above might an individual citizen make representations? Directorates and Commissioners, for example, prefer to deal with EU-wide organisations[1] that have already reached a community-wide consensus about their approach. For the Church, this would be COMECE, so one could ask Bishop William Kenney what is going on, and if our own bishops have asked him to express a view.

BRITAIN

Baroness Anelay, the Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office with responsibility for European Affairs, announced in written answer to the House of Lords on 15 October that “We do not support planned search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. We believe that they create an unintended “pull factor”, encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths. The Government believes the most effective way to prevent refugees and migrants attempting this dangerous crossing is to focus our attention on countries of origin and transit, as well as taking steps to fight the people smugglers who wilfully put lives at risk by packing migrants into unseaworthy boats ”

This was, apparently, not a Foreign Office opinion, but a Home Office decision resulting from Theresa May's participation in a meeting of the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 9 and 10 October, following which the Italian Home Affairs Minister, Angelino Alfano, said that the Italian rescue operation, “Mare Nostrum”, was always meant to be replaced once the EU stepped up its involvement. At the end of October, he also stated that Italy would still respect the rules of the sea and respond to SOS calls, and added that cutting spending would not necessarily lead to more tragedy.

A Home Office statement, said to have been agreed by Mrs May, confirmed later in October that “Ministers across Europe have expressed concerns that search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean have acted as a pull factor for illegal migration, encouraging people to make dangerous crossings in the expectation of rescue. This has led to more deaths as traffickers have exploited the situation using boats that are unfit to make the crossing.”

It does not seem very likely that either set of ministers will actually reverse these announcements! Sadly, it will probably be more profitable to try to show them ways out of their blind alleys or actions that they could take to deflect criticism.

RECENT HISTORY

A tragic event occurred on October 3rd, 2013, in the waters close to Lampedusa Island, when 366 migrants died on Europe’s doorstep. Later that month the European Council “expressed its deep sadness at the recent tragic events in the Mediterranean in which hundreds of people lost their lives and decided to step up the Union's action so as to prevent such tragedies from happening again”. The Council concluded that “based on the imperative of prevention and protection and guided by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, determined action should be taken in order to prevent the loss of lives at sea and to avoid that such human tragedies happen again”. It called for the reinforcement of Frontex activities in the Mediterranean and along the Southeastern borders of the EU, saying that “Swift implementation by Member States of the new European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) will be crucial to help detecting vessels and illegal entries, contributing to protecting and saving lives at the EU's external borders.” It intended to return to this topic at its meeting in June 2014. [Note that the UK is not a member of EUROSUR, whose duties include reducing the number of deaths at the maritime borders by saving more lives at sea, and can use ship reporting systems, satellite imagery and sensors mounted on vehicles, vessels or other craft to help build a shared pre-frontier intelligence picture.]

Italy, among other nations, was concerned to eliminate mortality at sea and eradicate or mitigate illegal activities of any sort along maritime routes, enhancing the costs and shrinking the benefits of the “traffickers of human beings”. On October18, 2013, building upon the existing Constant Vigilance mission, continuously held by the Italian Navy since 2004 (which had saved more than 120.000 migrants in distress at sea), Mare Nostrum became the latest Italian structured effort to improve safety as well security in the Central Mediterranean:

  • providing humanitarian assistance to migrants when and where necessary, avoiding tragic loss of lives;
  • disrupting and capturing the smugglers (“merchants of death”), strongly tackling the wide range of criminal actors and activities speculating upon migration.

Italy carried almost all the costs of this operation (€114 million, with emergency EU support of just €1.8 million), consistently calling for Europe-wide co-operation. Assistance to Italy was also provided through a Frontex coordinated operation, “Hermes”. This has, in one form or the other - with a few interruptions - been going on for several years, with Italy acting as the sole host state. It operates close to the Italian coast to control the EU external borders with a yearly budget for 2014 of around €5 million.

THE LATEST ANNOUNCEMENTS (in and after October 2014)

Eventually the European Commission said in August 2014 that it would launch an EU version of Italy’s sea rescue operation to help it deal with the droves of migrants crossing the Mediterranean in crowded boats from North Africa. It stated that Europe’s border control agency, Frontex, would take over the new operation, initially dubbed “Frontex Plus”, by merging two existing ones and eventually it replacing Italy’s costly mission to patrol the seas for boat migrants. “The aim is to put in place an enlarged Frontex Plus to complement what Italy has been doing,” said Cecilia Malmström , EU Commissioner for Home Affairs.

In fact, the new rescue mission, “Triton”, overseen by Frontex will be much more limited, with only a third of Mare Nostrum's budget. Twenty-one EU countries are contributing[2], but the mission will be restricted to patrolling the waters within 30 nautical miles from the Italian coast, while Mare Nostrum reached all the way across the Mediterranean to the coast off Libya. Any migrants picked up will still be brought to Italian ports and housed in immigration centres, though the vast majority of those who have been rescued over the past year did not stay in Italy for long, moving quickly on to other EU countries.

On October 7, Commissioner Malmström announced that as from 1 November 2014, at the earliest, 'Triton' was to start activity in the Central Mediterranean in support of the Italian efforts. The details of Triton, including the operational area and the necessary assets, have been agreed between Frontex and Italy on the basis of the requests made by the Italian authorities.

Triton will rely on human and technical resources made available by the participating EU Member States. Frontex has launched a call for contributions including two fixed wing surveillance aircraft, three patrol vessels, as well as seven teams of guest officers for debriefing/intelligence gathering and screening/identification purposes. In addition Italian assets will form part of the operation.

Its monthly budget is estimated at €2.9 million. In order to finance the launch and the first phase of the operation, funds have been reallocated from the Internal Security Fund and from within the Frontex budget. An increase in the Frontex 2015 budget has to be agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in order to finance the operation with the same intensity in the longer run.

People can ask MEPs what progress is being made.

As for all Frontex operations, Triton will be operating in full respect with international and EU obligations, including respect of fundamental rights and of the principle of non-refoulement which excludes push backs. Its role is seen as key to ensure effective border control in the Mediterranean region, and at the same time to provide assistance to persons or vessels in distress. Frontex is entrusted with assisting Member States in circumstances requiring increased technical assistance at the external borders, taking into account that some situations may involve humanitarian emergencies and rescue at sea. Although Frontex is neither a search and rescue body nor does it take up the functions of a Rescue Coordination Centre, it assists Member States to fulfil their obligation under international maritime law to render assistance to persons in distress.

Triton is intended to support the Italian efforts, and does not replace or substitute Italian obligations in monitoring and surveying the Schengen external borders and in guaranteeing full respect of EU and international obligations, in particular when it comes to search and rescue at sea.

ASKING QUESTIONS AND TAKING ACTION

At the start of the month, speaking on the anniversary of the Lampedusa tragedy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had said that Mare Nostrum would not be abandoned until “the EU comes up with something just as good or better”. There are doubts about his ability to sustain this pledge, but so far, Mare Nostrum has continued to operate. How long can it continue? It seems that The UK “refusal to help” relates to assisting with Triton's budget shortfall and its requests for additional help. But it is unclear where Mrs May's opinion about “pull factors” comes from, how widely it are shared, and to what extent it is born out by facts.

People could write and ask her to present the facts, or ask their MPs to do this. (One recent report claimed that the Home Office was unable to do this.)

Recently, James Brokenshire for the Home Office on 30 October told the House of Commons that “traffickers have taken advantage of the situation by placing more vulnerable people in unseaworthy boats on the basis that they will be rescued and taken to Italy”. Likewise, Foreign Office Minister Lord Bates in a written answer on 11 November, also pointed more directly at traffickers than migrants, saying, “Traffickers are placing more and more vulnerable people on unseaworthy boats on the dishonest basis that all will be rescued and taken to Italy.”

MEPs who have spoken against the new Triton regime include Claude Moraes, chair of the civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee. "Thinking that deaths at sea is a deterrent and that rescuing those in distress at sea is a pull factor, is an incredibly inhumane policy for any EU member state to pursue. Many member states are not willing to support border patrol projects in southern Europe, such as Triton … … many EU governments have refused to assist with Triton and any further search and rescue projects because they believe that such initiatives will encourage more migrants to cross the Mediterranean. Thinking that deaths at sea is a deterrent and that rescuing those in distress at sea is a pull factor, is an incredibly inhumane policy for any EU member state to pursue. If in Europe, member states are not able to work together to ensure that we don't have a graveyard in the Mediterranean each year, then what is the hope for other areas of the world where resources are much scarcer. People take the risk of the perilous journey because there is still hope that they will survive the crossing and it is still the best option they have. Migration into the EU must be properly managed with sensible policies but we must refrain from following the discourse that saving lives at sea is a pull factor. As chair of the European parliament's committee responsible for monitoring Frontex and the other agencies specifically tasked with border management in the Mediterranean, I will be pushing for an inquiry into the policies and resources being utilised by member states in the this region.”

Leading members of other EP Committees have also spoken up, including several from the human rights subcommittee.

Mr Moraes and members of the above committees could be contacted to ask what action is being taken to improve the situation.

In the UK, MPs can be asked to support Early day motion 400

DEATHS OF MIGRANTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

  • Date tabled: 28.10.2014

“That this House is appalled at the loss of 2,500 migrants in the Mediterranean since January 2014; commends all those who have tried to rescue these desperate people, many of whom are victims of war, environmental disaster and civil unrest; is shocked that from 1 November 2014 the Italian sea rescue operation Mare Nostrum will cease and only be replaced by border patrols within 30 miles of the coast; and accordingly calls on the Government to support a proper humanitarian protection operation to help save the lives of these desperate victims of human-created disasters.”

Apparently, a Home Office spokesman has said the UK had offered "initial support" to Triton, in the form of finance and expertise, and is "considering a further contribution". “We stand ready to consider any further request for UK support for the new Frontex operation.” Have any requests been received? Have any more offers of help been made?

There is an on-line petition to Theresa May which can be supported, “Petition: Revoke the decision to end British support for search-and-rescue operations for migrants in danger of drowning in the Mediterranean”, at

Supposedly, the UK and its European partners have agreed to work more closely within the EU, and with countries of origin, to tackle the root causes of illegal immigration. We consider that the most effective way to protect migrants is to crack down on human smugglers and combat trafficking at its source in the origin and transit countries. The agreed EU decision about better management of migration flows concentrates upon action in, and in collaboration, with North African countries and in countries where migrants originate.

Is there any progress to report? UK and EU officials and politicians can be asked!

[1]Sometimes temporary alliances formed to deal with a specific item of legislation that is currently being discussed.

[2]By November 3, 21 Member States had indicated their willingness to participate with human (65 guest officers in total) and technical resources (12 technical assets) at the start of the joint operation Triton; others might follow in the coming months. Technical equipment: 4 Fixed Wing Aircraft, 1 Helicopter, 4 Open Shore vessels, 1 coastal Patrol Vessel, 2 Coastal patrol boats. Human Resources: 65 men/months in total. However, very few of these resources were yet in place!