Another dangerous summer

As a new wave of would-be immigrants are starting to arrive on Europe’s southern borders from Africa, the EU is struggling to find a common solution to the problem. Judith Crosbie reports.

Recent events in the Mediterranean indicate that the summer is likely to be dominated by news of immigrants making their way in rickety boats to Europe. In a similar vein to last summer, immigrants from Africa have begun to travel towards southern EU states, often with tragic consequences. Already a number of boats have gone missing, with their occupants presumed drowned.

But this year a new dimension to the issue has come into sharp focus. Reports last week said that Malta had refused to pick up 26 immigrants in a tug boat because they were not in its territorial waters. A Spanish trawler eventually picked up the immigrants but the incident has soured relations between the two countries. "The attitude of the Maltese authorities in this issue was not correct at all. Here we were not speaking of taking in illegal immigrants but of saving lives. Spain did its duty, but Malta did not act correctly in this case," Jesús Caldera, Spain’s employment and social affairs minister, told reporters in Brussels last week (30 May).

Malta has responded by saying that it gave the tugboat supplies but the underlying attitude is that the tiny country cannot be expected to take in thousands of immigrants.

Wrangling over which country should take responsibility in such cases is not new. Last July a dispute took place between several Mediterranean states over which country should take in more than 50 immigrants picked up by a Spanish boat.

But this year there have been more cases, prompting questions as to what the EU can do to solve the problem. A group of 27 immigrants were left clinging to a fishing net last month while Malta refused to take them in, with an Italian boat eventually rescuing them. Earlier this year Spain and Mauritania quarrelled over which state should take in a boat carrying 400 immigrants.

Legislating to avoid such disputes is not within the EU’s competence, a European Commission official said. Rather the law of the sea is governed by rules set down by the United Nations. "The legislative framework is outside the remit of the EU. We can try through member states to create positive developments but we can’t play a key role," said the official.

What the EU may do is fill in the ‘gaps’ to help avoid disputes over whose responsibility it is to take in people distressed at sea, said the official. A recent Commission study suggests that "where no bilateral or regional agreement would be concluded, practical guidelines could be elaborated as a means to clarify further the implementation by member states of their international law obligations and to ensure, in this regard, a certain degree of predictability".

But even here they could run into trouble. "Member states keep the last word on borders. Paradoxically, while Spain and Malta are sensitive about keeping sovereignty over their borders they also want EU help on immigration," says Sergio Carrera, a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies.

But underlying these disputes is the member states’ fear of being targeted by illegal immigrants. Thousands of immigrants successfully reached Spain, Italy and Malta last year and these states are adamant that this must not be repeated. Frontex, the EU’s border agency started its operations on the Canaries in February with Spain and Italy providing boats and planes for patrols and Italy, Germany and France providing experts to help identify immigrants.

Patrols in the Mediterranean are to start this month to help stem the flow of immigrants to Malta and Italy.

Frontex also has new tools to help it respond. A European patrol network was established last week which will see member states co-ordinating patrols in EU waters to ensure better surveillance. Rapid border intervention teams will be at the disposal of the Commission to respond to a particular crisis at the EU’s frontiers.

But many believe that disputes over saving lives in the sea come down to the absence of a proper functioning common EU area for asylum and immigration. "Malta is one of the smallest states in the EU and it’s in the middle of things. It can’t be left alone to deal with this crisis. Other EU states must help with capacity and help fund proper reception centres," says Bjarte Vandvik, secretary-general of the European Centre for Refugees and Exiles.

"It is a grotesque and sad thing that lives are being lost but there is not even a political fight going on over it. Many states just don’t even want to engage. Sweden on the other end of the scale is taking in many Iraqi refugees because other states aren’t showing a willingness to protect them," he added.

On the Iraqi issue, the EU has been unable so far to cajole member states into showing solidarity and tackling the problem together.

Franco Frattini, the European commissioner for justice, freedom and security, will visit Malta at the end of the month. Before that he will raise the issue at the Justice and Home Affairs Council (12-13 June).

As a new wave of would-be immigrants are starting to arrive on Europe’s southern borders from Africa, the EU is struggling to find a common solution to the problem. Judith Crosbie reports.