UPDATE: EU Pledges Action, But No Immediate Steps, After Migrant Deaths
Fri, 25th Oct 2013 16:42
BRUSSELS (Alliance News) - EU leaders on Friday promised "determined action" to prevent a repeat of the hundreds of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea this month, but critics charged that none of their steps would bring about necessary change.
The agreed measures include strengthening border surveillance agency Frontex and seeking ways of ensuring migrants do not embark on the perilous journey. A recently established task force is to report back with concrete proposals in December.
"It is high on the agenda, but the concrete proposal and the concrete decision will come in two months' time," said EU President Herman Van Rompuy.
"The EU is finally facing ... the issue of migration and the drama of the Mediterranean," said Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
After lobbying hard for the issue to be taken up by EU leaders, Letta expressed satisfaction with their decisions, but warned: "It will not be sufficient if there are not ... operational consequences."
EU member states had recognized that "immigration is a question that affects the EU as a whole," said Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose country also borders the Mediterranean.
Located roughly halfway between Sicily and Tunisia, the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa was the site of the worst migrant boat accident in recent European history on October 3, when 366 people - mostly would-be asylum seekers from Eritrea - drowned off its coast.
The influx is not abating, with Italian authorities intercepting some 700 more migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday night. One person was missing Friday after falling into the sea, local media reported.
"Confronted with such suffering, we are all upset, yet we also know migration flows are a complex phenomenon," Van Rompuy said.
The EU leaders agreed in a joint text to: act on the basis of "solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility"; address "root causes of migration flows by enhancing cooperation with the countries of origin and transit"; instruct the task force to identify "priority actions"; and return to the broader debate on migration and asylum laws in June.
But critics charged that the leaders were delaying much-needed action and endangering more lives.
"The time to act is now," said Nicolas Beger of Amnesty International. "Until then, if leaders do not take responsibility to fundamentally change Europe's migration policy, more men, women and children will continue to die in the Mediterranean Sea."
Migration reforms have long been a touchy matter in the EU. The summit took place amid rising poll numbers for anti-immigrant European parties, such as France's National Front.
Several leaders emphasized the need to tackle migration at its roots, far beyond Europe's borders.
"We cannot absorb in Europe millions of refugees surging across the Mediterranean," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. "You have to help on the ground, where the problems arise. We do that in a completely insufficient fashion," he added.
"We need to do everything we can so Libya can reinstate its security capacity," added French President Francois Hollande. Many of those attempting to reach the EU first head to the North African country, where borders are porous after its 2011 revolution.
But others pointed to flaws in the EU's so-called Dublin rules, which force asylum seekers to apply for protection in the country of arrival.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann proposed that European countries aside from those directly on the Mediterranean should accept "a certain quota of asylum seekers" - a step that would ease the burden on some of the most acutely hit member states.
But there is little appetite in the bloc for such dramatic reforms.
"We think that the Dublin II regime is the basis on which we should be working," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
http://www.lse.co.uk/AllNews.asp?code=yzbyvha2&headline=UPDATE_EU_Pledges_Action_But_No_Immediate_Steps_After_Migrant_Deaths
http://www.dw.de/eu-summit-leaders-delay-immigration-reforms-boost-frontex-rescue-force/a-17184244
Received on Fri Oct 25 2013 - 17:44:13 EDT