Migration task force identifies 38 actions to address Mediterranean flows

The EU communication takes on board a number of actions proposed by Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat during last Octobers European Council.

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A task force of EU member states has identified a slew of actions to address the flow of migration from Africa into Europe, which will include both repatriating failed asylum seekers as well as "outsourcing" the processing of their claims in transit countries.

The establishment of the Task Force Mediterranean (TFM) was a proposal made at a meeting of European home affairs ministers in October, following the tragedies in the Mediterranean that saw hundreds of migrants and refugees drown at sea.

European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström today announced the 38 measures, saying the TFM was instructed to issue a set of measures and priority actions, which should now be followed up by operational decisions during December.

"Such action needs to address the prevention of loss of life at sea and target the provision of protection, and it must be guided by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility," Malmström said.

The document issued by the European Commission will be discussed by ministers on Thursday, 5 December in Brussels at a council meeting.

It's the first document to incorporate a comprehensive assessment on migration and propose solutions for the short to medium-term on "prevention" of irregular migration as well as strong border surveillance, and assistance and solidarity with countries dealing with high migration pressures.

What the Task Force communication says

The Communication takes on board a number of actions proposed by Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat during last October's European Council.
These include: stronger EU cooperation with North African countries, especially Libya;
Increased recognition of the EU laissez-passer (travel document) and increased repatriation of failed asylum seekers;
More incentives for countries of origin to readmit asylum seekers, and facilitating return and reintegration of migrants "stranded" in North Africa;
Putting migration on the EU-Africa summit agenda in April 2014;
Enhancing the ability of transit countries - like Libya - to process asylum claims "so as to enable those who need protection to obtain it without undertaking long and perilous journeys";
Regional protection programmes, complementing those already in place, such as in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, to assist countries in the region to receive migrants, determine protection needs and afford that protection where appropriate;
Stepping up the fight against human trafficking;
Solidarity with "frontline member states" through intra-EU relocation.

Other actions - not identified in a priority list - will include more cooperation with third countries to control their borders, assisting non-EU countries to establish their own asylum protection offices, "explore further possibilities" for legal access of asylum seekers; the creation of a European Patrols Network within the EUROSUR network; more financial assistance and intelligence from EASO and Frontex; and - last in the list - urging more EU states to share the responsibility by taking more beneficiaries of international protection.

IN DETAIL • The Task-Force identified concrete actions in five main areas:

1) Border surveillance to help saving lives

A new strategy was presented by Frontex to the Task Force. It aims at coordinating patrolling in the area under a common and coordinated platform - from Cyprus to Spain, focusing on the key migratory routes. The efforts in national borders surveillance will be fully coordinated with the operations undertaken by Frontex and altogether will constitute a European Patrols' Network. This European Patrols Network should focus on the key migratory routes from Cyprus to Spain and should enhance early detection and intervention, thereby saving life of migrants in distress at sea. According to Frontex estimations, the implementation of this new strategy would require additional financial resources amounting to around 14 million euro per year.

Shipmasters and merchant vessels should be reassured once and for all that helping migrants in distress will not lead to sanctions of any kind and that fast and safe disembarkation points will be available. It has to be clear that, provided they are acting in good faith, they would not face any negative legal consequences for providing such assistance.

2) Assistance and solidarity

The EC is setting aside funding, including emergency funding, of up to €50 million. In support of Italy €30 million have been set aside, including for border surveillance operations under the Frontex mandate. For other Member States €20 million have been allocated in order to improve, between others, reception capacity, processing capacity, screening and registration capacity.

Member State officials will be deployed to frontline countries to help processing asylum applications in an efficient and effective manner. The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) will be at the core of this effort and a key player in order to channel the solidarity of Member States to countries which are under significant pressure.

3) Fight against trafficking, smuggling and organised crime

Initiatives include: - giving Europol a stronger role and resources to coordinate other EU agencies working in the field of smuggling of human beings and fight against organised crime; - reviewing of the existing EU law on human smuggling, the so-called 'facilitators package' by reconciling effective fight against smuggling with the need to avoid criminalising humanitarian assistance; - further supporting capacity-building programmes to address smuggling and trafficking in human beings in North Africa, key countries of origin and countries of first asylum (also through trainings for law enforcement and the judiciary).

4) Regional protection, resettlement and legal ways to access Europe

In 2012, 4,930 persons were resettled to the Union by twelve Member States (Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom). The US in the same year resettled over 50,000 persons.

In order to stimulate resettling, future EU funding for 2014/2020 will be available to support additional efforts and commitments in this field. The European Commission intends to make available a lump sum up to €6,000 euro per resettled refugee.

The Commission is ready to explore possibilities for protected entries in the EU and open new legal channels to access Europe: the Seasonal Workers Directive should be fully implemented.

5) Actions in cooperation with third countries

Diplomatic action will be targeted at achieving further results in mobility dialogues with third countries. For instance, new dialogues on migration, mobility and security should be launched with additional Southern Mediterranean countries, notably with Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Lebanon.

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

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TFM (Mediterranean Task Force) is a step in the right direction, however the problem would need to be tackled in a much more comprehensive manner if tragedies similar to those which occurred off Lampedusa and Malta a few weeks ago, are to be avoided. EASO would need to receive EU-asylum applications directly and compile data on the persons requesting EU-asylum at the third countries of transit in North Africa, particularly in Libya In this way those requests which satisfy EU-entry criteria would be accepted and given an approximate date /year when this would be accomodated making it unnecessary for the migrants to seek to make the perilous Mediterranean crossing. EASO would complement the work already being done to assist the frontline member states , Malta included.Enhancing the role of Frontex and assisting North African countries of transit to guard their frontiers would also assist to put an end to this human trafficking, which is a disgrace in the 21st century when technology is available to prevent it from taking place. The EU would need to enter into an "Agreement on Migration" with each individual African country in North Africa, Sahel and the Horn of Africa so that operations in connection with migration may be regulated in an organized manner, including the registration of persons seeking EU-asylum. This may be a subject for discussion at the EU -Africa summit in April 2014. BY these proposals TFM is engaging itself to create ways how asylum in European Union can be granted in a regular manner and thus discouraging the perilous boat journeys across the Mediterranean and put a stop to the bonanza profits of the traffickers, but it is doing this in a half-hearted fashion. Of course success can only ensure if many more- or better still all- EU countries sign to accept migrants for resettlement or intra-EU relocation to make burden-sharing viable by the allocation of quotas per country in a just and equitable manner. The USA and non-EU Schengen countries should also be encouraged to resettle African migrants in their countries.

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TFM (Mediterranean Task Force) is a step in the right direction, however the problem needs to be tackled in a much more comprehensive manner if similar tragedies to those which occurred off Lampedusa and Malta are to be avoided. EASO need to receive applications for EU- asylum and compile data on the persons requesting EU-asylum at the third countries of transit in North Africa, so that requests which satisfy EU-entry criteria may be accepted and given an approximate date /year when this will be accomodated .In this manner it would be unnecessary for the migrants to seek to make the perilous Mediterranean crossing. EASO would thus complement the work already being done to assist the frontline member states . The EU would need to enter into an "Agreement on Migration" with each individual African country in North Africa, Sahel and the Horn of Africa so that operations in connection with migration may be regulated in an organized manner, including the registration of persons seeking EU-asylum . This may be a subject for discussion at the EU -Africa summit in April 2014. BY these proposals TFM is engaging itself to create ways how asylum in European Union is granted in a regular manner and thus discouraging the perilous boat journeys across the Mediterranean. Of course this will depend on many more EU countries signing to accepting migrants for resettlement or intra-EU relocation to make burden-sharing viable by the allocation of quotas per country in a just and equitable manner.

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TFM (Mediterranean Task Force) is a step in the right direction, however the problem needs to be tackled in a much more comprehensive manner if similar tragedies to those which occurred off Lampedusa and Malta are to be avoided. EASO need to receive applications for EU- asylum and compile data on the persons requesting EU-asylum at the third countries of transit in North Africa, so that requests which satisfy EU-entry criteria may be accepted and given an approximate date /year when this will be accomodated .In this manner it would be unnecessary for the migrants to seek to make the perilous Mediterranean crossing. EASO would thus complement the work already being done to assist the frontline member states . The EU would need to enter into an "Agreement on Migration" with each individual African country in North Africa, Sahel and the Horn of Africa so that operations in connection with migration may be regulated in an organized manner, including the registration of persons seeking EU-asylum . This may be a subject for discussion at the EU -Africa summit in April 2014. BY these proposals TFM is engaging itself to create ways how asylum in European Union is granted in a regular manner and thus discouraging the perilous boat journeys across the Mediterranean. Of course this will depend on many more EU countries signing to accepting migrants for resettlement or intra-EU relocation to make burden-sharing viable by the allocation of quotas per country in a just and equitable manner.

Priscilla Darmenia •

The method may have not been ideal, but the stamping of the feet and the threat of veto by Dr Muscat made the EU wake up and smell the coffee. - Now that the EU identified various possibilities to stop or slow down the inflow of migrants, let us hope that implementation is fast and efficient. - Dr Simon Busuttil, unlike you and Dr Gonzi in Dublin II, Dr Muscat made the ball rolling in a fraction of the time your party in government had. - You have alleged that Dr Muscat did not make Malta look good in the face of the rest of Europe and the world. I do not care how Malta looked as long as not the EU woke up. - Nice words and silk gloves did not work for you. Tough words and determination worked in just a few short months for Dr Muscat.

Migration task force identifies 38 actions to address Mediterranean flows

Focus is on prevention, border control, and strengthening transit states’ capacity to process asylum claims