Italian ports left alone to handle EU migrants

EUobserver

By Andrew Rettman

6 July 2017

EU countries have declined to help Italy by opening their ports to migrants, but aim to expel more people and impose “rules” on NGO rescues.

"We do not support the so-called regionalisation of the rescue operations," German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said at an informal EU meeting in Estonia on Thursday (6 July).

Stephanus Block, the Dutch security minister, said: “Just opening more ports will not solve the problem”.

Theo Francken, a Belgian state secretary, joked: “I don’t think we’re going to open Belgian ports. No”.

The EU talks took place amid a surge in people coming via Libya to Italy and amid near-record migrant fatality rates in the central Mediterranean.

Italy had called for solidarity, but its interior minister, Marco Minniti, said on Thursday that the ports proposal had met with “difficult opposition”.

Estonia, which holds the EU presidency, did not mention ports in its communique on the meeting.

It said the EU and Libya should do more to stop people from coming. It also said there should be “rapid returns” of economic migrants from Italy and that the EU should be “using all possible levers and incentives” to clinch readmission deals in Africa.

It said NGO rescues should take place “within a set of clear rules” amid warnings on “pull factors” for migrants.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed to resettle 37,000 refugees from Africa to ease the burden on Italy, but the Estonian statement made little mention of that.

It also made little mention of Commission quotas for relocating 160,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece.

“Returns policy is … the key word in the migration crisis. If we can send people back this will be the first and most important preventative measure, so that they understand there is no reason to come here,” Estonian interior minister, Anders Anvelt, said.

“Illegal migration and also economic migration must be stopped,” he said in Tallinn.

The EU migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said Thursday’s conclusion was that “we have to do more to improve implementation of what has already been agreed”.

He was among the few who praised the work of NGO rescue boats.

Morgan Johanson, Sweden’s migration minister, said: “There may be a limit where cooperation between these voluntary organisations and human traffickers has gone as far as human trafficking is helped”.

"It is necessary to raise the awareness of NGOs that they … do not promote illegal immigration,” Spanish interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said.

Italy is currently drafting the NGO rules, which will be examined by the EU before it gives its nod.

Germany’s De Maiziere also spoke critically of NGO activity.

“If transponders [boat sensors] are deliberately turned off [by NGOs] in order to obscure the location, then that does not arouse confidence,” he said.


Source: https://euobserver.com/migration/138455

The Brief: Italians should be furious

Euractiv

By Georgi Gotev

6 July 2017

Unprecedented numbers of sub-Saharan African migrants are arriving in Italy. Most of them are not in need of international protection, and the EU and its member countries are doing nothing to share the burden.

Italy has threatened to stop receiving foreign ships carrying migrants and has called on other European countries to open their ports to rescue ships.

Meetings have been held between the interior ministers of France and Germany, together with EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos.

The Commission came up with a migrant “action plan” that earmarked €35 million in aid for Italy and promised to work with Libya and other countries to stem the flow of migrants at source.

However, no further specific relocation efforts are foreseen.

The problem is that the vast majority of migrants arriving in Italy are not eligible for relocation. Of all the migration flows into Europe, Italy has taken in nearly 85%. Most are sub-Saharan African men.

Among these, only Eritreans are eligible for relocation.

Nigerians are currently the number one nationality applying for international protection currently in Italy, accounting for more than 20% of all applications.

They are followed by Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, who, along with Nigerians, are not considered eligible for relocation.

In theory, migrants whose asylum applications are rejected should be returned to their home countries. But the vast majority remains in Europe illegally.

Rome is furious that NGOs act as taxis, going to pick the migrants close to the Libyan shore. Some reports even say the smugglers phone the captains of the NGO boats, telling them where to go.

Italy is active in engaging with Libya, Chad and Niger in order to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean. Its government is also brokering deals with Libyan tribes but feels the rest of the EU is not doing enough.

The head of European Asylum Support Office has said the peak of migration Italy is experiencing is nothing new. This is not true.

Modern technology, such as satellite phones, in the hands of smugglers, and smartphones with Lycamobile subscriptions in the hands of migrants, as well as the new giant inflatable boat industry nobody wants to control, will bring millions more migrants to Europe.

Thanks to its geographical location, the vast majority will wash up in Italy and probably remain stranded there.

The truth is that the international community is doing nothing to stop this. Frontex was revamped but this was more of a public relations exercise than anything else.

Europe needs external borders it can control effectively. Or it will collapse.


Source: http://www.euractiv.com/section/all/news/the-brief-italians-should-be-furious/

Germany rejects Italian proposal to open EU ports to migrants

Ministers refused to back plan to open European ports to vessels, but endorsed an EU proposal to provide support to Rome.

Politico

By Jacopo Barigazzi

7 July 2017

Germany and other EU member countries on Thursday rejected an Italian proposal to open up European ports to vessels carrying migrants.

“We’ll not back the so-called regionalization of rescue operations,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière told reporters ahead of an informal meeting of EU ministers in Tallinn.

The ministers nixed Italy’s proposal that migrants crossing the Mediterranean disembark from vessels in other European ports, to alleviate some of the pressure on Italian ports.

Rome is pushing to change the mandate of the EU’s Triton operation, launched in November 2014 to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean. As part of the operation — which is run by Frontex, the EU’s border agency — 11 vessels take migrants rescued at sea to Italy. According to data from the Italian Senate, Triton is responsible for rescuing about 30 percent of migrants found crossing the Mediterranean.

* “Just opening more ports will not solve the problem by itself” — Stef Blok, Dutch minister for security and justice

Italy, which faced 85,183 arrivals in the first six months of the year according to the International Organization for Migration, now wants to share the burden with other EU coastline states such as France and Spain. But Italian diplomats admit they have little hope this effort will succeed.

Italy made “a mistake” when it called for EU support “in exchange for Rome taking all the migrants,” one diplomat said.

“No. Triton has a very clear, very well defined mission,” European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said in Tallinn, when asked whether he supported the Italian plan to change the Triton mandate.

He later clarified to reporters that this doesn’t mean that the Commission is against the plan. “More work however is needed within Europe but also with our North African neighbors to share the burden and ensure Italy is not left alone,” he said, and Frontex “will have a discussion with the Italian authorities and other member states involved next week on Triton’s operational plan.”

Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands also rebuffed the Italian proposal. Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido stressed that ports in Spain are already facing “important pressure,” while Belgian Migration Minister Theo Francken said, “I don’t think that we are going to open Belgian ports.”

“Just opening more ports will not solve the problem by itself,” Stef Blok, the Dutch minister for security and justice, said. Blok stressed that the EU should also “discuss the role [of] African ports” in removing some of the burden from Italy.

EU ministers did, however, endorse an action plan put forward by the Commission to provide support to Rome. The plan includes additional funding for Libya, the starting point for the bulk of migrants crossing to Sicily, and a proposal to regulate the activity of NGOs operating in the Mediterranean, some of whom have been accused of carrying out search-and-rescue operations too close to or within Libyan territorial waters.

The action plan also calls on Tunisia, Libya and Egypt to “declare their search and rescue areas and establish a formal maritime rescue and coordination center,” which would also lay the groundwork for these countries to take back migrants.

There is widespread support, from the Netherlands to Hungary, for plans to open migration centers in North Africa. “But if it has not been done so far it is also because Tunisians and Libyans don’t want to,” according to a diplomat involved in migration talks.

Even if Europe can come up with compelling incentives for North African countries to cooperate on migration, “the problem will remain how then we make sure that those entitled for protection will be able to reach Europe,” another diplomat said, given that resettlement programs are based on voluntary pledges by member countries.

Source: http://www.politico.eu/article/germany-rejects-italian-proposal-to-open-eu-ports-to-migrants/

Italy to be 'firm' in migrant ports discussion, Minniti

But interior minister says Tallinn meeting not right venue

ANSAmed

6 July 2017

(ANSAmed) - TALLINN, JULY 6 - Interior Minister Marco Minniti said Thursday that Italy will present its case with "the necessary firmness" when it comes to a proposal for asylum seekers to be taken to other EU ports to share the burden. He added that the issue was not set to be discussed at Thursday's informal meeting of EU interior ministers in Tallinn because "it was not the right venue". Italy is demanding more help from its EU partners with the asylum-seeker crisis, saying its capacity to cope is at the limit. Over 85,000 migrants have arrived in Italy via sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

"We have sent a letter to the formal forum for it to be discussed, which is Frontex," he added. "We will talk at that venue next week. It is evident that there are contrasting positions on this. "Italy has its point of view, others have theirs. "We will debate, legitimately, and also with the necessary firmness". (ANSAmed).


Source: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2017/07/06/italy-to-be-firm-in-migrant-ports-discussion-minniti_d35f2921-ed46-4244-b815-050db82c0656.html

Germany against taking migrants to other EU ports

Italy to be 'firm' in migrant ports discussion, Minniti

ANSAmed

7 July 2017

TALLINN- German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Thursday that Berlin was against the Italian proposal of taking asylum seekers saved in the Mediterranean to the ports of other EU states to share the burden. "We do not support the so-called regionalization of the rescue operations," de Maiziere said as he arrived at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Tallinn.

Italy is demanding more help from its EU partners with the asylum-seeker crisis, saying its capacity to cope is at the limit. Over 85,000 migrants have arrived in Italy via sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Belgian Asylum and Migratory Policies Minister Theo Francken said Thursday that "I don't think that Belgium will open its ports" to migrants saved in the Mediterranean as he arrived at the informal meeting. France and Spain have also said they will not open their ports to migrants attempting the crossing from Libya to Italy.

European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Thursday that, while the mandate of the Triton EU security and rescue operation in the Mediterranean was clear, Italy still needed help in coping with the arrival of asylum seekers. "The objective of Triton as it is at the moment is clear," Avramopoulos said. "But it is necessary to work more within the EU, and with our North African neighbours, to share the burden and ensure that Italy is not left alone.

"The EU border agency will have a discussion with the authorities in Italy and the other member States involved on the operational level next week".


Source: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2017/07/06/germany-against-taking-migrants-to-other-eu-ports_a9cd2efd-0473-41d8-8404-15c713d370b3.html

EU leaders reaffirm Libya migrant policy despite criticism

Mail Online

By Associated Press/ Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed

6 July 2017

ROME (AP) - European Union officials on Thursday reaffirmed the need to tackle Europe's migrant crisis in Libya and surrounding countries, amid continued resistance in Europe to welcome refugees.

Italy announced some 30 million euro (US$34 million) in new investments aimed at preventing migrants from ever reaching or leaving Libya's lawless shores where smugglers operate. And EU interior ministers warned they might sanction migrants' home countries with visa restrictions if they refuse to take their people back when their European asylum bids fail.

Europe's migration crisis was on the agenda at two meetings Thursday: an informal EU-wide interior ministers meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, and a meeting in Rome of foreign ministers from Libya, surrounding African countries and selected European partners.

Amid mounting anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe, Italy has increased its complaints that it can no longer shoulder the burden of the migrant crisis alone. Faced with national elections later this year or next, the Italian government has recently threatened to close its ports to non-Italian flagged rescue ships in hopes of forcing other European countries to take migrants in.

In Rome, Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said Italy was pledging 10 million euros to help Libya's southern neighbors - Niger, Chad and Sudan - better control their borders so migrants can't reach Libya. Another 18 million euros is slated for the voluntary repatriations of migrants who reach Libya and decide not to continue their journeys north.

"In order to lower the numbers leaving Libya, we have to lower the numbers entering," Alfano told a press conference.

In Tallinn, the interior ministers called for aid groups conducting rescue operations in the Mediterranean to follow a code of conduct, after prosecutors in Italy have accused some of complicity with Libyan-based smugglers.

The ministers also vowed to crack down on countries that refuse to take their nationals home when their asylum bids fail in Europe, including imposing limits to visa programs.

And they promised to "enhance the capacity of the Libyan coast guard," to better patrol its coasts and turn back migrant boats, despite renewed criticism from Amnesty International that such a policy is "reckless" given Libya's lawlessness.

On the eve of the meeting, the human rights group said the turnback policy risked victimizing desperate migrants even more since they risk grave human rights abuses once returned to Libya and trapped there.

More than 2,000 migrants to Europe have died at sea so far this year while over 73,380 have reached Italy. By year's end, the number of arrivals is expected to match or exceed the 181,400 who made it in 2016, which was more than in the two previous years, the report said.

Amnesty said it was "deeply problematic" to unconditionally fund and train Libya, where human rights are lacking and the coast guard has been known for violence and even smuggling.

The group cited an August incident off Libya's coast in which attackers shot at a Doctors Without Borders rescue boat. A U.N panel of experts on Libya later confirmed that two officers from a coast guard faction were involved.

In May, the Libyan coast guard intervened in a search-and-rescue operation another non-governmental organization was performing. The coast guard officers threatened migrants with weapons, took command of their wooden boat and took it back to Libya, Amnesty reported.

Amnesty is not alone in its concern.

The search-and-rescue director for Save the Children, Rob MacGillivray, said in a statement that rescued migrants have recounted horrors from Libya, including claims of sexual assaults, sales to others for work and whippings and electrical shocks in detention centers.

"Simply pushing desperate people back to Libya, which many describe as hell, is not a solution," MacGillivray said.

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitri Avramopoulos conceded at a recent news conference in Paris that the EU is drawing on a country in "very precarious conditions."



Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-4671444/EU-leaders-reaffirm-Libya-migrant-policy-despite-criticism.html

EU urges NGOs rescuing migrants to work closely with Libya coastguard

Reuters

By David Mardiste and Julia Fioretti | TALLINN/BRUSSELS

6 July 2017

EU interior ministers on Thursday urged non-governmental organizations rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean work more closely with Libya's coastguard, amid concerns that their activity is encouraging people to attempt the sea crossing.

Escaping wars and poverty, more than 360,000 refugees and migrants arrived on European shores across the Mediterranean last year. More than 85,000 have reached Italy so far this year.

The European Commission fears that NGOs running rescue services off the Libyan coast are providing a "pull factor", encouraging migrants to risk their lives in flimsy dinghies in the hope of being picked up and then ferried over to Italy.

Meeting in the Estonian capital Tallinn, the interior ministers agreed to beef up the Libyan coastguard, step up deportations of failed asylum-seekers and fund African countries from which people are fleeing poverty to find work in Europe.

"Of course, we have to help Italy overcome this crisis and all countries have to make efforts to that end," said Estonian Interior Minister Andres Anvelt, whose country holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency.

"We have to establish a very clear return policy and deal with the reasons for the migration crisis at their source, that is, in the countries of the refugees’ origin," he said.

Italy's Interior Minister Marco Minniti said NGOs were conducting about 34 percent of the rescue operations and so should work closely with the Libyan coastguard in their waters.

"These are civil operations and therefore need to be coordinated (with the coastguard) just as much as they need to liaise with the judicial authorities and the police regarding actions and investigations against (people) smugglers," he said.

SUFFERING

However, NGOs have accused Libya's coastguard of rights abuses and say giving it greater responsibility will lead to more deaths at sea.

Oxfam expressed concern that the EU's plans would "only increase the suffering of people on the move".

"European governments should be supporting search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, and generally treating migrants in a more fair, transparent and legal manner," it said in a statement.

On Tuesday the European Commission offered Italy more funding to deal with Mediterranean migrants and said Italy would draw up a code of conduct for NGOs running rescue operations.

Minniti said Italy would work quickly on the code of conduct.

At a separate conference in Rome on Thursday, Italy's Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano stressed the importance of strengthening Libya's southern borders to discourage migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

"We have to stop the migrants getting to Libya and to do that we have to help the countries further south," he said, comparing people traffickers who ferry the migrants toward Italy as "the biggest travel agency in the world".


Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-italy-idUSKBN19R1XY