Thursday’s extraordinary summit of the European Council was a step in the right direction but more needs to be done, MEP Miriam Dalli believes.
“It is positive to see more member states dedicating more resources and vessels, aircraft and experts to Triton and Poseidon. It is positive to see the Council’s commitment to fight traffickers and prevent illegal migration flows. But we need to see that these measures are effectively implemented,” said Dr Dalli.
She continued: “Even though reinforcing internal solidarity and responsibility was one of the points mentioned, the conclusions still lack the proper political will and commitment by all governments of the different member states to really have fair responsibility sharing.”
Dr Dalli said voluntary relocation programmes never gave the desired result. “I still can’t understand how the European Council is expecting that emergency relocation between all Member States on a voluntary basis will give results this time round. To me, this is not proper responsibility sharing,” she said.
She continued: “Moreover, I am disappointed that there was no mention of the Dublin Regulation which is completely ineffective and highly unfair to the border member states. What I want to see is the creation of a fair distribution system where no member state is left alone.”
Dr Dalli said she was happy to see that the European Council wants to support UN-led efforts towards having a government authority in Libya, but also wants immigration to be one of the points that are being discussed in the talks to form a Libyan National Unity government.
“I am satisfied to see that an EU-African Union summit will be held in Malta. I hope that this can serve as the first step towards addressing the issue of immigration at source. Only by addressing the problems in the African countries can we really start addressing the root causes of the immigration issue,” she concluded.
Positive steps forward, but we need a leap forward – MEP Roberta Metsola
PN MEP Roberta Mestola said that steps were taken forward in tackling migration, but said that she would have rather seen a leap forward.
“The bottom line is that lives must be saved and human trafficking operations disrupted in the short term, but we also need to give impetus to long term goals to solve the root causes of migration,” she said.
Dr Metsola continued: “The focus on disrupting human traffickers and the promise of increased of funding and assets in the Mediterranean is positive as is the assertion that a CSDP mission, similar to what has happened off Somalia will be considered. The PN have been calling for this for some time.”
“But I also wanted to see a larger operational area for the maritime missions agreed to in order for assets to be best placed to save lives. I am also disappointed at the lack of emphasis on relocation and resettlement. The EPP have just agreed to push for a binding quota for every Member State and it is unfortunate that Prime Ministers were not so ambitious,” she continued.
The MEP concluded: “But while the conclusions are an important step and I am hopeful that they will lead to a better, fairer European response, I have seen enough of these statements in the past to remain a little sceptical. I hope I am proved wrong and that all commitments will be honoured even after the media spotlight has faded."