the Twenty-Seven approve an emergency plan to avoid reproducing the “Ocean-Viking” crisis

Two weeks after the Franco-Italian crisis around theOcean-Vikingthe European interior ministers meeting in Brussels approved, on Friday 25 November, an action plan in order to avoid “not reproduce this kind of situation”.

The meeting had been convened at the request of Paris, which agreed to “exceptional title” on 11 November the disembarkation of 234 migrants fromOcean-Viking on French soil, after the refusal of the far-right Italian government of Giorgia Meloni to welcome this humanitarian ship which had been blocked for a long time off the Italian coast.

On his arrival, the French Minister, Gérald Darmanin, had repeated that France would not welcome asylum seekers arriving in Italy as long as Rome did not respect “not the law of the sea”.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Migrations: in Brussels, extraordinary advice to forget the “Ocean-Viking” crisis

Strengthen cooperation

The emergency action plan, presented on Monday by the European Commission and endorsed by the ministers, proposes 20 measures, in particular to strengthen cooperation with countries such as Tunisia, Libya or Egypt in order to prevent departures and increase returns of irregular migrants.

It also provides for better coordination and an exchange of information between States and NGOs rescuing migrants at sea, and intends “to promote discussions within the International Maritime Organization [OMI] » on the “guidelines for vessels carrying out rescue operations at sea”.

The “countries in the southern Mediterranean must also open their ports” to migrant rescue vessels “which cross in their territorial waters”underlined Gérald Darmanin.

“The crisis ofOcean-Vikingit was a bit of improvisation”said European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas. The, “We have 20 specific actions, an important political agreement, everyone is committed to working not to reproduce this kind of situation”he commented after the meeting, which he described as “positive”. But “It’s not the definitive solution”he acknowledged, calling on member states to advance negotiations for a reform of migration and asylum in the European Union (EU), which have stalled for more than two years.

Read also our editorial: “Ocean-Viking”, a European disaster

Relaunch a temporary European solidarity mechanism

The emergency plan also intends to relaunch a temporary European solidarity mechanism approved in June, at the initiative of France, which then held the presidency of the Council of the EU. A dozen countries had voluntarily committed themselves, to relieve the Mediterranean states, to welcoming some 8,000 asylum seekers arriving in these countries over one year, France and Germany each taking 3,500. But the crisis of the’Ocean-Viking led Paris to suspend its “relocations” from Italy.

“We must get out of a situation where the same States are called upon to receive ships and carry out relocations from other Member States. France will resume its relocations when this is the case.has tweeted Gérald Darmanin at the end of the meeting.

The Italian Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, for his part, claimed to have observed a “convergence of positions” during the meeting, stating that he had “Warmly greeted” its French counterpart. The latter invited him to come to Paris before a next meeting of interior ministers scheduled for December 8 in Brussels.

Migration is back on the European agenda while irregular entries at the Union’s external borders are on the rise (280,000 in the first ten months of the year, +77%). The push is particularly strong via the Balkan route (+168% over the same period). The Commission is preparing another action plan to try to stem this increase.

The numbers do not reach the level of the refugee crisis of 2015-2016. But the possibility of a new wave of arrivals of Ukrainians this winter, millions of whom are without electricity because of Russian bombardments, also feeds European concerns.

Greece’s Minister of Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachi, meanwhile, has complained that Turkey is not respecting a 2016 migration agreement that includes taking back migrants who have not obtained the right at the asylum. He also felt that the voluntary solidarity mechanism was not ” not enough “calling for a solution ” obligatory “.

For her part, the Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, called for “also solidarity for Member States like Belgium which are doing more than their share but have seen their reception capacities saturated by secondary flows for months”.

Read also: Migrants rescued in the Mediterranean: what does international law say?

The World with AFP


source site-29