They are shocked. The EU leaders, the EU officials. But, No, they are not shocked by the loss of lives in the deep waters of the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea on a daily basis. They are shocked by the number <700>. That is the lives that disappeared at once off the island of Lambedusa in South Italy over the weekend, when a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank. And even worse. According to latest reports, the people who lost their lives may have been 950. And that’s enough for the slowly moving EU-carrier. The technocrats and bureaucrats in Brussels feel the urgent need to react. Too much and too loud is the outcry by media and lawmakers, NGOs and charities. In fact the outcry is so deafening that it reached the ears of the last cabin boy on the lowest deck of the EU ship.
All EU-leaders in one boat – photoshop from “Je Suis Charlie” gathering via Greek weekly To Pontiki
Shocked and alerted they have called for an extraordinary European Council summit for next Thursday, April 23rd.
According to Greek state broadcaster NERIT TV, the EU-ers will try to find the way to “halt the tragedies” in the sea waters, and high on the EUCO agenda will be solutions like:
1) combating the trafficking networks
2) stabilize the war zones in the Middle East and Africa with special focus on Libya.
3) increase of sea patrols.
That’s Creative Vagueness EU-style.
And, Yes, you got it right, right away. There will be improvement in 2, 3, 5, 10 years. Until the EU takes and implement all these ban-breaking “measures” migrants, refugees, documented migrants, will continue to die in the blue cemetery.
Shocking data!
Mediterranean Crisis (on going)
16 months
254,000 migrants
5,100 deaths
source: UNHCR
The problem is that there is not much that slowpoke European Union. It cannot force its members to accept 2 or 1002 or 1000002 migrants. It cannot force its members to go rescue them from the sinking boat wreckage. It is up to Greece, Italy and Spain to do it in terms of humanity. And keep them or repatriate them if they wish, if they can. Mostly they cannot do …neither…nor.
Time for Euroskeptics to cheer and they are right.
EU holds migrant boat crisis talks as more deaths reported
There is no such thing as an EU or European immigration policy.
As the tragedies in the waters between Libya and Italy multiply weekly, newspapers, pundits, MPs, NGOs and charities are clamouring to know what “Europe” is doing. The desperation and the suffering, so evident on television and online, are fuelling fresh Brussels-bashing as unelected, self-satisfied eurocrats are said to be feckless, impotent and cynical in their lack of response.
“European” immigration policy is a mess, a patchwork of 28 hugely varying national systems constrained by national politics, shaped by culture and history.
There have been innumerable proposals over the past decade from Brussels for more common and coordinated policies, ranging from “blue card” schemes modelled on the US green card to making it easier for migrants to enter the EU legally.
Incumbent governments of the mainstream centre-left or -right are scared of this because immigration is one of the most toxic and incendiary topics in the national politics of so many countries. (full article The Guardian)
Therefore, the European Council, the European Union, the European Parliament will keep on issuing “condolence messages” hoping that all these migrants and refugees will vanish in the air as quiet as possible. somethings which is impossible.
Heartbreaking scenes Monday morning in Rhodes. A boat carrying 100-150 migrants sank 50m away from the shore. Three men, one woman and one child were drawn on the way to secure shelter in Europe. Dozens of volunteers and professional rescue teams rushed to the beach to help the people reach the shore.
The migration problem is not new. It has just reached a new peak with the destabilization of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Somalia, Nigeria and Libya. The problem is not Greek, Italian or Spanish. It is a European problem that the European Union is unable to a solution for. it is a problem for which the EU leaders have not the political will to solve for reasons of national petty interests.
Therefore, the question is burning on our lips: why do we pay the bureaucratic eurocrats for? To spend 1,000 working hours to create a 3cmx1cmx0.2cm EU-standard for a lighter? But to demonstrate incapability to solve yet another human problem?
So, let’s pay their travel and accommodation expenses and let them enjoy exchange of view on migration in a nicely decorated and civilized meeting hall, away from bomb explosions and ISIS threats. And let’s have them congratulate each other for having done their duty and fly back home in all safety. And hypocrisy.
The lack of a common EU policy on asylum, immigration and search and rescue of drowning people in the Mediterranean is comparable with everything else in the EU. It is similar to the attitude of the eurozone’s politicians: not our problem; why should we pay for Greece, Italy, Spain etc?; saving people from drowning/financial ruin/anything only encourages more to do the same…
This is the vile mentality of the neoliberals that has now become so ingrained as to threaten the survival of all but the very rich.
Please sign our petition on search and rescue in the Med: it is only a start, but something is better than nothing:
https://www.change.org/p/council-of-the-european-union-european-commission-restart-the-rescue-and-adopt-mare-nostrum-as-european-policy#petition-letter
They’re thinking of tracking down the traffickers! What? This has been going on for years and they have done nothing. Too little, too late!
They are smugglers not traffickers, anyway. They cannot be dealt with until they are caught because they are based in Libya, where there is no effective state and the coastguard barely function and have not been paid for 3 months. Two on the ship where 800 died are being prosecuted in Italy: one is a Libyan (the captain) and another Syrian. These are basically unauthorised refugee movements into the EU because all other routes are blocked.
Basically, the 10-point plan is 10 points of political rhetoric, with a small increase in budget for the Frontex operation that replaced Mare Nostrum. It’s the same incompetence as with the eurozone crisis.