European Commission
Malmström

Today, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy violated human rights in 2009 by sending boat migrants back to Libya. The unanimous verdict is important and most welcome, albeit not surprising. It clarifies – and confirms the EU Commission’s position – that countries who push back migrants to where they risk persecution, without assessing their situation, are breaching international law.

Shortly after the events of 2009, my predecessor, EU Commissioner Jacques Barrot, demanded that the Italian government at the time clarified how these push-backs had been carried out. The Commission also wanted to know how Italy intended to make sure that such situations would be avoided in the future. As far as we know, no similar returns of boat migrants have been carried out since then.

Last year, more than fifty thousand migrants crossed the Mediterranean in rickety vessels to the EU. According to UNHCR, over 1500 of them died trying. We must come to the assistance of migrant boats in distress, and we must guarantee access to protection to those in need.

Now, the Commission will study the verdict from the court carefully to see whether further action is needed.

The EU summit held on Sunday on the debt crisis, is to be continued.  At this meeting of the EU’s leaders the atmosphere was constructive, but no decisions were taken.  Another summit, on Wednesday, will follow and hopefully there will be some concrete results.

During the weekend we witnessed celebrations across the globe, for example, in Tunisia on Sunday, where free elections were held.  Early reports suggest that turnout was high and that the atmosphere was calm.  It is fantastic to see proud Tunisians cast their first free ballots to vote for an assembly, who will write the new constitution.  Also, in Libya, people celebrated their freedom after 42 years of dictatorship.

I spoke on these, and on other issues today at a lecture at Gothenburg University, in Sweden.

I am spending the day at Europol, in the Hague.  Europol have several Swedish visitors here today – the County Police and the Director and others from the National Police, and I’ve been invited to speak about what the Commission is doing in the fight against organised crime, and how we can strengthen cooperation.  I think that the police in Sweden, as in all Member States, have much to gain by strengthening cooperation with Europol.

A few hours ago we received the news that Muammar Gadaffi had been arrested, badly injured.  And now he is said to be dead.  He was one of the worst dictators of modern times and it would have been good if he had been put to trial for his horrid crimes.  I hope that the Transitional Council can now concentrate on a peaceful transition, and on building a new, democratic Libya.  But it will not be easy.

I am following the developments in Libya with great interest. At the moment, it is not yet clear if Gaddafi, one of the cruelest dictators in the world, has been overthrown, but it does look like his days in power are numbered. Gaddafi and his government must now be held accountable for what he has done to his own people during the 42 years his terror regime has held on to the power. EU has assisted the Libyan people with humanitarian aid during the spring, you can read more about the assistance here. As with Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year, the EU also stands ready to assist Libya with it’s democratic transition. The road to democracy after Gaddafi will be long, but a democratic Libya would be a tremendous success, not only for the Libyan people, but for the whole region.

2011-05-12 Today’s Justice and Home Affairs Council main focus was on the Communication on Migration that I presented last week. I was pleased to receive broad support from the Member States and to hear that there is general agreement that a coordinated and coherent response is necessary.

Almost all Member States share my vision: that Schengen is an incredible achievement that must be safeguarded and that the cooperation should be further strengthend. Above all we must improve the monitoring and evaluation of how the external borders are controlled, and identify what tools should be available to support Member States in difficulties controlling these borders. This was already proposed by the Commission last year. Several Member States also highlighted that there are uncertainties under concerning the circumstances in which a temporary reintroduction of border control at internal borders could be introduced and that this must be clarified. If there are to be amendments to the suspension clause in today’s rules, I should stress that it is important to me that suspension decisions should normally be made at a European level -in order to avoid unilateral, uncoordinated, decisions by Member States, which have direct impact on all other members of the Schengen area. Regrettably this is not the view of all Member States. Some work remains to be done in this regard.

After the Council meeting I invited the Member States, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, UNCHR and IOM for a big conference on the situation in Malta and the refugees from Libya. According to UNHCR there are about 8000 people from Libya in need of international protection and about 1000 refugees that have arrived to Malta. UNHCR is asking for help and so far Argentina, Australia, Canada and the US have volunteered, as well as a few European countries. All Member States in the EU have not yet offered to assist but at the end of the Conference we had around 1000 resettlements pledges in total (out of which Norway is offering to take a third!). This is not bad, but of course it is not enough. I’m hoping that more Member States will show solidarity with Malta and the refugees from Libya.

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.

More boats are coming to the shores of Lampedusa. But now they are not only carrying Tunisian migrants, but also refugees from Libya – mainly Somalis and Eritreans who have lived in Libya for a long time and now have nowhere to go. Yesterday, 500 refugees from Libya reached Malta. I’m in daily contact with Italy to see how we can assist them. Last year Italy got a sum of money from the European Refugee Fund and the Return Fund, and all of it has not yet been used. That money can now be used to deal with the situation in Lampedusa, and we have also additional support if that would be needed.

The humanitarian situation in Lampedusa is difficult and Italy needs to move people more quickly to the mainland. From the Commission side we are now pleading also to other Member States to take their responsibility and support Malta and Italy in taking some of the refugees arriving.

Tomorrow I am going to Tunisia together with my colleague Stefan Füle. We will discuss the current refugee situation and I hope that we can also touch upon how we can organise future cooperation on mobility, migration, visa issues, and border management. I will go to the refugee camps close to Djerba and then to Tunis to meet with ministers, UNHCR, International Organisation for Migration, NGOs, and representatives of political parties.

I’m in Gothenburg today with Sweden’s Minister for Integration Erik Ullenhag. We visited a company that is taking part in a labour market project. The so called Projekt 100 is co-funded by the EU and aims at during three years time provide at least 100 new jobs for people on income support in the Eastern parts of Gothenburg, where many migrants are living. We met with migrants who got their jobs through this very good initiative.

I also took part in a public seminar on the ongoing discussions on a common European asylum and migration policy, and the challenges we are facing in Europe today. About 130 people were present, and there were lots of interesting questions on Swedish and European migration policy, but also on the current situation in North Africa. I am glad that the UN Security Council last night decided on a no-fly zone over Libya, and on using all necessary means to protect civilians. I am following the developments in the region by the hour.

Today started with a long meeting with the LIBE committee in the European Parliament whom I debriefed of the state of play in the PNR negotiations with the US, Australia, and Canada, and where I presented the evaluation report of the EU-US agreement on the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP). The evaluation, which was carried out by representatives from data protection authorities, the Commission, and Eurojust, shows that the agreement on the whole works well and that the data protection mechanisms are in place. But the report also lists some recommendations of areas that need improvement. I think it is important that this report becomes public, so I put it online as soon as the LIBE committee had seen it. You can access it here, as well as the press release.

I also had a long telephone conversation with the Italian Minister of Interior Mr Roberto Maroni, about the situation on Lampedusa and in North Africa. Up until now, 11 200 people have reached Lampedusa’s shores from Tunisia, and as the weather improves the number of boats coming will probably increase. We are looking at how we can support Italy in this situation, and I will also discuss with Tunisian authorities how we can cooperate to make sure that those who are not in need of international protection can return home under safe and dignified conditions. So far no refugees from Libya have arrived in Europe, but we are of course preparing for all possible scenarios.

A good Commission college meeting today, where we discussed internal market reforms and evaluated the conclusions from the European Council last Friday. The situation in Libya is still dramatic, with people escaping from the violence and taking refuge in the neighbouring countries. We are following the developments by the hour, and both the Commission and Member States have contributed with practical and financial assistance to help people in the region. According to International Organisation for Migration we have so far helped 26 386 people who couldn’t leave Libya and its neighbouring countries to go back home to Bangladesh, Egypt, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Ghana, to mention a few countries. In the coming days flights are booked for 9 000 more. I am glad to see such a great proof of European solidarity with our North African friends in this difficult situation.

We are now looking at how we can extend our assistance and reach the people in need of international protection. Thousands of people in need of asylum are having problems leaving the Libyan neighbouring countries, and we are looking at whether EU Member States can take them in. Some countries have already offered to do so, and I hope that more will. Next week I will go to Tunisia with the Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs to talk to people on the ground and get a better understanding of the situation.