During an informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers in Luxembourg held over the last two days, Minister for Home Affairs and National Security Carmelo Abela met with the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini as well as with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Luxembourg, Etienne Schneider, who chaired the meeting.

At the meeting, Ministers mainly debated the future development of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) based on the decisions by Heads of State and Government at the European Council in June 2015 and the Council meeting of Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs (FAC/FAC Defence) in May 2015. Much of the debate was focused on the issue of migration flows from unstable regions as a result of recent events in Southern and Central Europe. Ministers touched on the launch of the new CSDP military naval operation in the Southern Central Mediterranean to disrupt human smuggling networks, known as EUNAVFOR MED.

Malta has contributed to this new operation all the way from planning to inception through specialised personnel from the Armed Forces of Malta in Brussels and at its headquarters in Rome. The Head of this operation, Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino gave an outline of his activities and intentions especially on the need to strengthen the operation further - subject to the right conditions being in place - notably a proper legal framework to enable action closer to Libyan coasts as well as to enable it to secure a sufficiently greater level of military capabilities.

In his intervention, Minister Abela commended all the Mission and Operation Commanders and their forces for their significant achievements to-date, in view of Malta’s proximity and direct interaction with EUNAVFOR MED, he expressed his particular thanks to Rear Admiral Credendino for his ongoing efforts to address challenges which, as Minister responsible jointly for home affairs and defence matters, similarly commanded his attention. 

Minister Abela said that Malta supported the progress since the launch of EUNAVFOR MED and the efforts to establish a clearer picture of the migrant smuggling situation in the Central Southern Mediterranean. Malta also looked forward to the EU obtaining the necessary UN Security Council resolution and Libyan consent for operating in Libyan waters, to enable the operation’s progress towards its mission objectives, as set out by EU Heads of State and Government in April.

Malta had stressed from the outset that the migration flows are not just an issue for the southernmost EU Member States, but a European problem, and that this problem should be tackled in the same way that the EU deals with challenges on its other borders, and with the same resolve. The events of 18/19 April 2015 and accelerating momentum since, had changed realities across Europe.

Migration is not only related to the African continent but as events in wider Europe have recently demonstrated, the spillover of instability from Syria and Iraq is increasingly contributing to the scale of migration flows from that region.

Following the launch of EUNAVFOR MED and the achievement of a sufficiently detailed intelligence picture of the situation during phase 1, we need to mark concrete steps forward to enable the operation to move to the subsequent phases where greater effect on the smuggling networks can be achieved. This political backing has to come hand-in-hand with the assurance that sufficient resources are made available to EUNAVFOR MED in order to enable it to achieve its objectives.

Minister Abela finally emphasised the migration problem needed to be tackled with resolve. He strongly insisted that the events at Europe’s borders reconfirmed more than ever before the linkage between internal and external security and the urgency to link these two aspects. Taking up a comment made by High Representative on moving forward, Minister Abela said that the current circumstances indeed dictated the need to move forward. He concluded that this is a daily human crisis and therefore that it is ultimately an issue of credibility for the EU.

Finally, Ministers were also briefed on the five ongoing military Common Security and Defence Policy missions and operations (EUTM Somalia, EUNAVFOR Atalanta, EUFOR Althea, EUTM Mali and EUMAM Central African Republic).