The number of migrants entering the EU via the Mediterranean Sea has risen sharply. Italy, in particular, is reluctant to do so. An action plan by the Commission is intended to remedy the situation. But there is no sign of unity among Europeans.
Migrants on board the “Ocean Viking” (picture from November 10).
A new crisis is brewing in Europe. Twice as many migrants are currently trying to get to the European Union on the central Mediterranean route than in 2021. By September, almost three times as many people had made their way via the western Balkans as in the previous year. In countries like Belgium and the Netherlands, authorities are struggling with overcrowded asylum centers. And recently, a violent dispute broke out between France and Italy about taking in boat people.
“Europe is currently sleepwalking into the next migration crisis,” believes Manfred Weber, head of the conservative European People’s Party. If the EU does not solve its problems at the external border, the borderless Schengen area is in danger, Weber recently wrote on Twitter.
Commission to make peace
That’s easier said than done, because the states are a long way from a common solution. The episode about the rescue ship “Ocean Viking” two weeks ago shows how frayed the nerves are: Italy’s new right-wing government refused to allow the ship with its around 230 migrants on board to enter an Italian port. The crew of the aid organization SOS Méditerranée had previously rescued people from distress in the Mediterranean and made dozens of requests to go ashore in Italy or Malta.
In the end, France agreed to accept the migrants. At the same time, Paris accused the Italians of a serious violation of international law because rescue ships were allowed to go to the nearest port. The French government retaliated by withdrawing its pledge to take in 3,500 migrants from Italy later this year.
Rome immediately reported that its own recording capacity was exhausted. There is no solidarity from other EU countries, and ships like the “Ocean Viking” generally promote the business of smuggling gangs with their operations.
In order to calm the situation, the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU Council Presidency, convened a special meeting of the 27 interior ministers. And the Commission also got to work and, under pressure from Italy, hastily drew up an action plan for the Mediterranean route. But because things had to be done so quickly, diplomats believe that the Brussels authorities were merely rehashing a number of old proposals.
The action plan envisages intensifying cooperation with countries of origin and transit and launching a new program against people smuggling in North Africa. Europe’s border protection agency Frontex is to work more closely with transit countries such as Libya and Niger. In addition, work is to be carried out on a new legal framework for the use of rescue ships. And finally, a “solidarity mechanism” should come into force, which will make it possible to voluntarily accept migrants from the Mediterranean countries or to support these countries in other ways.
All of these points are part of an asylum and migration pact that the Commission presented at the end of 2020. So far, however, he has hardly made any progress because the migration policy ideas of the member states diverge widely.
Ylva Johansson, the EU’s refugee commissioner, also acknowledged this when she presented the action plan earlier in the week and reported on the increase in migration numbers. She explained that – despite the declared solidarity – so far only around a hundred migrants from countries of arrival such as Italy or Greece have found acceptance in other EU countries. At the beginning of the year there had been commitments for the relocation of 8,000 migrants.
Only a few politically persecuted
When it came to sea rescue, Johansson had difficulty making clear statements. There is a “legal obligation to save lives,” emphasized the Swede. It is also necessary that all actors involved in the rescue operations cooperate. Nevertheless, only very few people arriving via the Mediterranean would leave their homeland because of political persecution. “We have to keep in mind that a clear majority of the people arriving via this central Mediterranean route today do not need international protection,” said Johansson.
However, it is far from just the Mediterranean that worries Europeans. Prior to the special meeting in Brussels, Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and his counterparts from the Visegrad states had called for more attention to be paid to migration movements in the Balkans. For the month of October alone, Frontex counted 22,300 irregular border crossings on the western Balkan route, three times as many as a year ago.
No one seriously expected the meeting to be more than an exchange of views. Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan reported on Friday evening that work would be “continuous” on “building a more resilient migration and asylum system”. Things also looked bleak in the dispute between Paris and Rome. The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said that the promised migrants from Italy would only be accepted once Rome opened its ports for rescue ships.