The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen has presented a ten-point set of immediate actions to be implemented in the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has been flooded by immigrants in recent weeks.
During a visit to this island, the President pointed out that the EU Commission and the European Union Asylum Agency as well as Frontex, will offer their assistance to manage this immediate criticism, by helping with the registration of arrivals, identification and other procedures.
The President also pointed out that managing the crisis has to ensure a swift return of migrants to their country of origin, if applicable.
We will increase our support to transfer migrants out of Lampedusa. We urge other Member States to use the Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism and transfer migrants out of Italy.
In general, the ten-point action plan presented by the EU Commission will include support from the bodies mentioned earlier, as the first point, followed by the vow to increase support for returning migrants from Lampedusa as well as step up returns by undertaking a renewed, concerted outreach to the main countries of origin of the new arrivals, such as Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Furthermore, the fourth point of the plan includes support for the prevention of departures by establishing operational partnerships on anti-smuggling with countries of origin and transit.
The EU Commission intends to also improve and strengthen the border surveillance at sea through Frontex and explore options to expand naval missions in the Mediterranean.
In this case, there is a possibility of working arrangements with Tunisia and a coordination task force in Europol to combat smuggling along the Tunisia border.
The EU Commission is determined to limit the use of unseaworthy vessels and take action against smugglers and their operations. Thousands of people have lost their lives while trying to reach Europe through such routes.
Increase support by the EUAA to apply swift border and accelerated procedures, including the use of the safe country of origin concept, rejecting applications as manifestly unfounded, issuing entry bans and recording them in the Schengen Information System (SIS).
The last points include increasing awareness and communication campaigns for the Mediterranean crossings, in order to inform people about this irregular practice and also those that want to reach Europe to warn them over how fatal this alternative of migration can be.
At the same time, the EU Commission plans to continue working on offering alternatives for those who want to migrate by offering humanitarian admission and legal migration pathways.
In addition, the EU wants to improve cooperation with UNHCR and IOM to adopt an approach that is customised to ensure protection along this route and increase voluntary return to migrants’ countries of origin. Implementing the EU-TU Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is the next step that the EU plans to undertake to combat irregular migration.
