Europeans seek a response to the migration emergency – Les Echos

The European summit on 28 convened in emergency after new drama this weekend continues the debate on whether to strengthen rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea

As a grim sense of déjà vu. The new wreck that caused hundreds of deaths this weekend in the Mediterranean Sea mobilized Monday the Foreign Ministers and Interior together urgently in Luxembourg, a bit like what happened in October 2013 after the tragedy of Lampedusa. This time, the death toll is such (between 700 and 950 dead just for Sunday) that he even caused the emergency call on Thursday, a European summit of heads of state and government around issues of Migration is one notch compared to the situation in 2013. But will that be enough for the Europeans to agree on a common response to this question the migration emergency, that they had not actually been able to do after Lampedusa? “I hope that the alarm has sounded for all Europeans. Too often we have said in the past: “never again! »» , stressed the head of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, this Monday in Luxembourg, and believes that “the EU has no alibi” to do to act. The President of the European Council (the body which sit states), Donald Tusk, however, has already warned against overly high expectations, warning that it should “not expect quick solutions to the root causes of migration because there are not any “.

Is Europe ready to strengthen means?

The debate on Monday in Luxembourg prefigured those who should be held Thursday. These include her whether Europe is willing to strengthen consistently civilian and military means to rescue in the Mediterranean Sea. Italy was responsible only for the effort with the “Mare Nostrum” operation conducted for nearly a year until last fall, when Rome had given to the financial burden (nearly 9 million euros per month). Europe had taken over with Triton operation with significantly less ambition since it only controls the seas. Many countries do not want to actually rescue operations that may encourage migrants and their smugglers to try their luck, and cause an air of migrants call. “There is a real substantive debate whether Triton can make the search and rescue” , agreed to a diplomatic source after the Luxembourg meeting. In the ten point plan it submitted on Monday and will also be discussed on Thursday, the European Commission has proposed to strengthen the financial resources of this operation Triton currently very poorly equipped (three times less than Mare Nostrum eg ), without giving further details, a sign of intense debate. “Its scope, currently restricted to territorial waters of EU countries should be increased” , is it also written

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risk of influx of refugees

If these rescue operations were to be intensified, Europe would have probably handle an increased flow of refugees. But for now, the rule of every man for himself in Europe that their home is provided by a small number of countries. “There is a debate to establish an effort sharing mechanism, a sharing of the burden, with an allocation of the number of applicants per country” , says the diplomatic source. This idea of ​​”quota” refugees, however, is not unanimous, far from it. In its action plan, the Commission only mentions a “considering options for a more equitable distribution of refugees among EU Member States” and distribute 5,000 refugees on a voluntary basis between Member States.

A point is much more consensus is the need to fight against the smugglers that send migrants to death. Brussels evokes a program “confiscation and destruction of boats used to transport migrants” , and says he wants to build on the experience gained in the “Atalanta” operation against piracy off the coast Somali.

What does not work in the asylum policy of Europe?

From the Arab Spring of 2011, Europe is facing a dramatic surge in the number of asylum seekers. While they were only 200,000 annually in the mid-2000s, and again a little over 250,000 in 2010, their number has exceeded 450,000 in 2013. Of these, about 50,000 were Syrians, the most numerous. Faced with these rapid changes, Europe is regularly ridiculed for failing to take the measure of the problem. But it would be more accurate to speak of Europeans than of Europe, since the material, each state is as it wishes. He just has to see the situation of the two caricatured Scandinavian neighbors, one (Denmark) displaying one of the most restrictive policies in the field while the other (Sweden) is instead the first country the Union in terms of reception of asylum seekers. More generally, we note that almost 80% of asylum seekers are greeted by six countries on the twenty-eight of the EU (Sweden therefore, but also France, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Italy ). This reign of every man for himself transforms the management of these flows headache. In response, some are calling for the introduction of a variety of host quotas for each European country. Several Southern states require, as after the sinking of Lampedusa in 2013, the reform of the Dublin II convention on asylum which provides the entry countries responsible for the reception and care of refugees.