Only 5,000
migrants may be allowed to resettle in Europe as refugees under the
emergency summit crisis package, the rest are to be speedily
repatriated. The package is to be agreed by EU leaders in Brussels on
Thursday .
A confidential draft summit statement
reported by the Guardian indicates that the vast majority of those who
survive the journey and make it to Italy – about 150,000 did so last
year – will be sent back as irregular migrants under a new rapid-return
programme co-ordinated by the EU’s border agency, Frontex. More than
36,000 boat survivors have reached Italy, Malta and Greece so far this
year.
In particular in terms of sharing
responsibility across the EU the draft statement suggests only “setting
up a first “voluntary” pilot project on resettlement, offering at least
5,000 places to persons qualifying for protection”, it says.
The draft summit conclusions also reveal
that hopes of a major expansion of search-and-rescue operations across
the Mediterranean in response to the humanitarian crisis are likely to
be dashed, despite widespread and growing pressure. In essence their
operational priority will be to keep the migrants out, not to rescue
them.
EU foreign and interior ministers on
Monday 20 April decided to double funding in 2015 and 2016 and
“reinforce the assets” of the existing Operation Triton and Operation
Poseidon border-surveillance operations, which only patrol within 30
miles of the Italian coast.
The European council’s conclusions said
this move “should increase the search-and-rescue possibilities within
the mandate of Frontex”. The head of Frontex said on Wednesday that
Triton should not be an operation primarily aimed at search and rescue.
(Frontex is the European border guard agency.)
Instead, the EU leaders are likely to
agree that immediate preparations should begin to “undertake systematic
efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by
traffickers”. The joint EU military operation is to be undertaken
within international law.
The statement calls the crisis a tragedy
and says the EU will mobilise all efforts at its disposal to prevent
further loss of life at sea and to tackle the root causes of the human
emergency, including co-operating with the countries of origin and
transit.
“Our immediate priority is to prevent
more people dying at sea. We have therefore decided to strengthen our
presence at sea, to fight the traffickers, to prevent illegal migration
flows and to reinforce internal solidarity,” it says, before adding that
the EU leaders intend to support all efforts to re-establish government
authority in Libya and address key “push” factors such as the situation
in Syria.
The EU leaders also make a commitment to
“increasing emergency aid to frontline member states” – taken to mean
Italy, Malta and Greece – “and consider options for organising emergency
relocation between member states”.
EU leaders are expected to stress their
determination to fight the traffickers and will promise to bring them to
justice, seize their assets and make a concerted attempt to take down
any online material likely to attract migrants and refugees.
On Monday, ministers and the European
Commission agreed to bolster the Triton mission, to increase its funding
and assets, and to expand the operational area of Triton, which is run
by Frontex. But the head of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, said on the eve of
the summit that saving migrants’ lives should not be the priority for
his maritime patrols despite the clamour for a more humane response
after the deaths of 800 refugees and migrants over the weekend.
He flatly dismissed turning the Triton
mission into a search-and-rescue operation and voiced strong doubts
about new EU pledges to tackle human traffickers and their vessels in
Libya.
“Triton cannot be a search-and-rescue
operation. I mean, in our operational plan, we cannot have provisions
for proactive search-and-rescue action. This is not in Frontex’s
mandate, and this is, in my understanding, not in the mandate of the
European Union,” Leggeri said. Instead, he appealed for planes to
conduct aerial surveillance so they could anticipate more disasters.
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