The European Parliament’s Budget Committee yesterday voted to nearly double the budget allocated to the European Union’s border control agency Frontex, a little more than one month after the committee visited Malta to look into the country’s migration issues.
Frontex, which this year carried out two Nautilus missions in the vicinity of Malta, and one last year, aimed at deterring African migrants from the EU’s southern shores, will see its operational budget increased by EUR30 million for next year as a result of yesterday’s vote.
The Frontex budget is to be raised from this year’s EUR35 million to up to EUR70 million for next year’s operations.
In addition to the Nautilus Mediterranean mission, the agency also carries out Hera missions in the Atlantic aimed at stemming the flow of migrants seeking asylum in the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain, as well as operations such as the Poseidon operation in Greece, Bulgaria and Italy which deals with migratory movements from the east.
The proposal for the significant boost in Frontex funding was moved yesterday in the Committee by the EPP-ED parliamentary group on the initiative of Maltese European Parliamentarian Simon Busuttil. The Socialist parliamentary group, the PES, which had initially called for a far lesser Frontex budgetary increase of EUR20 million, also supported the motion.
Speaking yesterday, Dr Busuttil heralded the Committee’s vote as a delivery of its political commitment to assist Malta and other southern boundary states as they struggle with migratory inflows.
“The political signal of this vote speaks for itself,” he commented. “Our aim is to increase the duration of Frontex missions in the Mediterranean, certainly to cover the peak immigration season from the beginning of May through to October. We will not be satisfied with anything less than that.”
Yesterday’s vote, however, came with a caveat in that the committee also voted to freeze one third of the agency’s administrative budget until it improves its accountability and effectiveness in seeing member states delivering on their commitments on the supply of equipment, expertise, aircraft and seacraft.
Dr Busuttil added, “The money will be there. But if Frontex wants it, it needs to prove that it is able to deliver more effectively. To do this it needs to get member states on board to deliver on their promises to provide the agency with the necessary assets to do its job. Frontex must make sure that its toolbox has the necessary tools.”
This summer’s Frontex-coordinated Nautilus mission intercepted more than 700 irregular migrants, while a further 20 human traffickers were intercepted between the Nautilus and Hera missions, European Justice, Freedom and Security and Commissioner Franco Frattini told the Justice and Home Affairs Council last month.
Mr Frattini added that the results of both the Nautilus and Hera missions, the latter of which was undertaken in the Atlantic, were “satisfactory”. Additionally, the EU’s Rapid Border Intervention Teams (Rabits) – another segment of the Frontex remit – now had over 500 country experts ready to be dispatched at short notice to a member state facing migratory surges.
The vote follows a visit to Malta by the Budgets Committee just over a month ago, during which it met with Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina, as well as the Armed Forces of Malta Maritime Squadron Base and local NGOs working with migrants and asylum seekers.