This summer’s Frontex-coordinated Nautilus mission, undertaken in the southern Mediterranean within the proximity of Malta, 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 said yesterday.
Mr Frattini was speaking at the Justice and Home Affairs Council, which was briefed by Frontex Executive Director Ilkka Laitinen. Yesterday’s council also published a raft of conclusions specific to Malta’s plight on the African-European migratory route.
The council, in particular, requested member states to report back “as soon as possible” on Malta’s burden-sharing proposals presented to the council in June, as well as on further measures addressing particular pressures faced by member states.
In June, Malta had proposed that migrants rescued by an EU member state from the waters of a third country – in Malta’s case migrants rescued from Libyan waters – be shared proportionately throughout the EU. The proposal was modest in that it does not include migrants rescued by Malta from its own waters, or migrants already landed in Malta.
Mr Frattini added 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) now had over 500 country experts ready to be dispatched at short notice to a member state facing migratory surges. The first concrete example Rabits will take place in Portugal in the near future.
Yesterday’s council session also adopted a number of conclusions with respect to irregular migration.
With specific reference to the southern Mediterranean, the council called on member states and Frontex to identify and implement long-term measures for maritime patrols. These should include joint operations at a number of “high-risk” areas, the European Patrols Network in terms of expanding joint operational areas to the high seas, and promoting the participation of third countries in such measures.
The council also called on member states to provide equipment and the necessary resources to make such measures “a reality” in 2008.
The council additionally called on member states, in a spirit of solidarity and shared responsibilities, to provide support on a bilateral basis to member states facing migratory pressure.
Such support, the conclusions stipulate, include involvement in return operations, reception conditions, case working expertise or voluntarily taking responsibility for asylum seekers, refugees, and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status.
The conclusions also call for member states to follow up on contacts made with third countries – Libya, in Malta’s case – with a view to launching or reinforcing concrete cooperation on border control, search and rescue and return.
Countries of origin and transport need to be cooperated with in areas such as enhancing their capacity to manage their own borders, fulfilling their search and rescue responsibilities, fighting organised crime involved in human trafficking, enhancing their capacity to provide protection, and providing an effective framework for returns such as through readmission agreements.
Member states, Frontex and the Commission, the conclusions found, should, as a matter of priority, complete their analyses of the international law of the sea as is relevant to Frontex joint operations. The Commission was also obliged to report back on the matter by the year’s end.
The conclusions encourage member states and the Commission to ensure that the new funds made available for the EU’s borders, return and asylum are “exploited to the full for the purpose of giving a concrete expression to the principle of solidarity through a targeted and coordinated approach.