Small EU states could get help to face African influx

Member states are considering setting up a solidarity mechanism to help smaller EU countries faced with large flows of would-be immigrants coming from Africa.

The idea of redistributing migrants is being discussed by member states’ ambassadors to the EU and follows an appeal by Malta for other states to take in migrants picked up in the Mediterranean outside its search-and-rescue zone.

Wolfgang Schaüble, the interior minister of Germany, which held the EU presidency up until Sunday (1 July), said that a clause limited to smaller states would be the best option.

"The next issue will be to do with the solidarity clause for countries like Malta," he told European Voice, adding that this would "concentrate only on small countries rather than doing major redistribution of refugees all over Europe".

Malta has protested to other EU states that it should not be expected to pick up migrants stranded in the search-and-rescue waters of third countries - most frequently Libya. The problem has been brought into sharp focus after recent incidents in the Mediterranean when migrants were left stranded. In one case, 27 people were left clinging to a tuna net for three days. In another, Malta refused permission for a Spanish boat to land after it had picked up 26 people.

The proposal to limit the burden-sharing to smaller states would be acceptable to Malta, but Spain, one of the main targets for boatloads of migrants from Africa, is in favour of a general system of distribution for migrants picked up outside any state’s search-and-rescue zone. Experts from member states and the European Commission will meet on 25 July to consider different options. A general approach, however, is opposed by many member states, a point recognised by Franco Frattini, the European commissioner for justice, freedom and security.

"We have potentially tremendous numbers of people that are ready to go to Europe and cross the Mediterranean so it’s simply impossible to decide to have distributions in numbers - ten to Italy, 11 to Belgium and so on - because a large majority of member states are against," he said this week.

Frattini is today (5 July) visiting Malta and will travel on a boat as part of Nautilus, a Frontex mission in the Mediterranean, which began on 25 June and is patrolling the waters for boats of migrants coming from north Africa.

The mission is already allowing Malta to share some of the responsibility for picking up and processing migrants, Frattini said. "Malta had two broad areas of search and rescue, it is simply impossible. That’s why we agreed before launching the Nautilus mission to reduce the Maltese area of responsibility for search and rescue by half," he said. Two of the other states participating in the mission - Italy and Germany - have agreed to accept some migrants picked up at sea, Frattini said.

Malta is considering turning to the EC treaty if member states do not agree to share migrants picked up outside its search-and-rescue zone. Article 64.2 of the treaty allows that "in the event of one or more member states being confronted with an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of nationals from a third country, the Council may…adopt provisional measures…for the benefit of the member states concerned". The Maltese government has yet to determine what those "measures" could mean in practice.

Malta’s ambassador to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana, told a hearing in the European Parliament on Tuesday (3 July) that the reason member states were reluctant to contribute assets to Frontex missions was, "because they are concerned about what will happen if their assets pick up migrants: in particular, where will these migrants go?"

Member states are considering setting up a solidarity mechanism to help smaller EU countries faced with large flows of would-be immigrants coming from Africa.