European Commission
Malmström

Spring has certainly arrived in Brussels as well as in Luxembourg where I’m today for the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting. There are many issues that will be discussed today but the meeting will probably be overshadowed by the current situation in the Mediterranean. The boats are still arriving in Lampedusa – sources say that they now even carry refugees from Côte d’Ivoire. Italy and Malta have both called for an activation of the Temporary Protection Directive. Everybody is talking about solidarity and today we’ll see what this means in practice.

The debate in Strasbourg on migration flows continued for several hours on Monday night and focused mainly on the situation in Lampedusa and Malta and on solidarity.

The war in Libya is causing big migration flows, around 400 000 persons have now left the country. Most of them are guest workers from Tunisia and Egypt, but some are also third country nationals from up to 30 different countries. Egypt and Tunisia have done a heroic effort in taking care of these people. More than 100 000 have also been transported to their home countries with the help of the EU and Member States.

But there is still a small group of people, a few thousand, who cannot return to their home countries Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea. We must all take our humanitarian responsibility and give them protection in Europe.

In Lampedusa there are still Tunisians arriving. Sources tell us that they are mainly young unemployed men and Tunisian citizens. A few people from Libya have also arrived in Italy and Malta and asked for asylum.

Altogether there are about 2000 people that are in the need of international protection and have requested asylum in the EU, so far.

There is a lot of talk about activating the temporary protection directive. The directive was a response to the situation in Kosovo in the late 90s, but is has so far not been used. The directive can be used if there is a “mass influx of displaced persons from third countries who are unable to return to their country of origin”. They could then be granted temporary protection without individual assessments. To activate the directive the Commission must propose it and there must be a qualified majority of member states in favour of activating it.

At this point we cannot see a mass influx of migrants to Europe even though some of our member states are under severe pressure. The temporary mechanism is one tool that could be used in the future, if necessary, but we have not yet reached that situation.

The Ministers of Internal Affairs and Migration are meeting on Monday next week to discuss the short- and long-term cooperation with North Africa in the area of migration, and the migratory situation in Member States. The issue of solidarity between Member States will probably also be on the agenda.

As of yesterday the Frontex mission ‘Hermes’ is officially deployed to assist the Italian authorities in managing the inflow of migrants from Tunisia on the island of Lampedusa. The mission is being launched four days after receiving the official request from the Italian authorities. The mission is part of a broader framework of measures put in place, and includes support of border surveillance and experts to assist the Italian authorities in interviewing migrants. They have a special mission to identify those who may be in need of international protection. In other words, they are there to save lives.

Today the EU Foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss, among other things, assistance to Tunisia as well as the current developments in Libya. Cathy Ashton sent a clear message yesterday that all violence in Libya must be stopped and that the demands of the people for reform must be addressed through open and meaningful dialogue. We are closely following the developments, and stand ready to support the democratic, social, and economic reforms needed in the region.