Solidarity, or every EU Member State for itself?

Passing the buck on the humanitarian tragedy of mass migration has to stop. And it is not just those blaming each other but also those who are refusing to be part of the solution. Why don’t we in the EU learn some lessons from the Japanese?

Their solidarity in the wake of the catastrophically tragic events should be an example to us all. OK, Japan is one nation, but is not the EU meant to unite Europeans as one entity? Is not solidarity meant to be one of the Union’s pillars?

So far EU solidarity seems to only be activated on fiscal issues. But when it comes to humanitarian issues all we get is rhetoric. We are all directly or indirectly responsible, not just the EU, for the reasons why people flee from war, starvation and torture for wanting to have the freedoms we take for granted.

For once I agree with Gozo’s bishop Mario Grech. He has shown concern about the tragedies surrounding migrants taking place in the Mediterranean. “Most of the people were remaining silent, indifferent, or were trying to avoid the truth”, he said.

He rightly commented that more fuss is made about bird shooting than the loss of migrants at sea, adding that those making financial gain from the plight of these people would be answerable to God, as well as society.

Well, I am not sure that the people making substantial financial gains put our God before Mammon and as for society, it does not seem to care much either, as his bird shooting comment demonstrated.

These are examples of our society’s response online: “Wouldn't it be obvious that if you overload a sea-going vessel you are imposing the risk on all the passengers? I mean they bring it on themselves,” said one.

“The birds don't have a voice or a choice. Illegal immigrants do - they can stand up and fight and try build the country they are fleeing leaving other people to try to mop up the mess,” said another.

For the people who got all defensive about birds: It is not that birds should not be protected, of course they should. The issue is about ignoring fellow human beings while making a big fuss about birds.

Besides many were expressing the view that because the tragedies hit the headlines it shows that we care, which of course if one reads the accompanying comments demonstrates no such thing.

There were no comments about the people ferrying migrants in overcrowded, ramshackle boats, while exploiting them financially. How many boat owners and crew has Frontex apprehended? How come these people seem to slip through the net and are still operating?

The latter of course is beyond what the locals could achieve. The only thing we can do is exert pressure on the other EU States to add to that being wielded by our government and MEPs.

As to responsibility, for the reasons leading to the mass migrations, a number of EU countries, the US and others have supplied arms to the countries in conflict and the least they can do is share the burden of people fleeing from the butchery.

The countries who have not supplied arms have still cosied up with authoritarian regimes for other commercial reasons and most of us have all ignored the human rights abuses and plight of the exploited – out of sight out of mind. Of course we all woke up seeing the Middle East uprisings on our TV screens every day.

As to the migratory issue, here in Malta we have had the problem of people fleeing, to what they hoped would be survival at least and perhaps a better life, brought home to us since before we joined the EU.

I remember getting a non-committal response from Günter Verheugen the European Commissioner for Enlargement, just before we joined, when I had asked him what help we could expect on that specific issue from Member States once we were full members.

Quite a few years later in 2007, the European Commission had recognized the "special difficulty" of a crowded island just 200 kilometres from Libya. If we had a special difficulty then what should our position be seen as now.

Although we were told on Thursday that Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström “was considering” making a formal proposal to member states to activate the emergency solidarity mechanism, by Friday Malmström was once again arguing that “the numbers are not yet huge” to merit the activation of the temporary protection directive.

Our difficulties are obviously not special enough. The mechanism, under the Temporary Protection Directive, would provide immediate protection and reception in the territory of EU member states and give a ‘breathing space’ for the national asylum systems and promote ‘voluntary’ solidarity measures between member states.

However, the directive cannot be approved unless a majority of the member states vote for it. So far this majority does not yet exist, even though the solidarity measures are voluntary.

“There are perhaps over 2000 refugees from Libya, 800 in Malta - which is a lot for a tiny island, but not enough to trigger this mechanism,” she said. She claimed that there are other ways member states can show their solidarity with Malta. For instance, contributing in the resettlement programme. She was referring to the pilot project in Malta initiated in 2008, which she said “worked well”.

The EC project’s objective was for EU member states would resettle, on a voluntary basis, refugees from Malta. Less than 300 were resettled by the other 26 member states in three years.

It was interesting to note that Malmström also is calling for the “blame game” to stop, but as for her “too emotional” quote, referring to Italy and Malta, one wonders how emotional she would get if all those migrants were landing in Brussels.

And it is not only Malta and Italy that are ping-ponging migrants and getting ‘emotional’ over the issue. The Italian and French interior ministers are also locking horns. They met on Friday after Italy granted temporary permits to some 20,000 Tunisian migrants, which they said would allow them to travel to France.

Things got pretty hot with France warning that it is preparing to close the border with Italy if Rome continues to give temporary permits to the illegal immigrants to cross over to France.

France, that let us not forget had colonised Tunisia, (as the Italians had colonised Libya) said it does not want all those Tunisian migrants and will send those holding the Italian residence permits back unless they also have valid identity papers and sufficient funds to support themselves in France.

The Italians are claiming that France was violating the rules of the EU’s Schengen visa-free zone. But France is not budging “France has every right to send them back to Italy... That is what we will do, ” French Interior Minister Claude Gueant.

However, they have agreed to carry out joint patrols off Tunisia's coast to block migrants headed for Europe, with the French interior minister saying there was no duty to take in boat people. So it is not just migrants from Tunisia that are to be blocked but all boat people. What about those escaping from the civil wars in Libya and the Ivory Coast?
Very humanitarian gestures indeed. Instead of sharing the burden send them back.

Meanwhile, The UN High Commission for Refugees, on Friday, called on the European Union to urgently put into place more reliable and effective mechanisms for rescue-at-sea following the large loss of life in the Mediterranean this week.

More than 220 Somali, Eritrean and Ivorian refugees drowned early on Wednesday morning when their boat capsized some 39 nautical miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

“A longstanding tradition of saving lives at sea may be at risk if it becomes an issue of contention between states as to who rescues whom. That is why we urgently need a more operational and better functioning search and rescue mechanism,” said UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller.

UNHCR also added its voice to the call for active consideration of concrete responsibility and burden sharing measures particularly among EU member countries. Such measures could include technical and financial support, and the use of the EU Temporary Protection Directive, which aims to harmonise temporary protection for displaced people in cases of “mass influx” on the basis of solidarity between member states.

“Although the temporary protection mechanism established by the directive has not been used yet, it is important for EU countries, namely Italy and Malta in this case, to be reassured that such support and solidarity would be forthcoming should the circumstances so demand” said Feller.

Well the circumstances are certainly demanding support and solidarity. Yet the EU is still dragging its feet and few are coming forward to share the burden. Germany has so far said it was prepared to take a100 migrants from Malta. It also took another 100 migrants from Malta last year. All in all less than 300 migrants were resettled by the other 26 member states in three years.

Unfortunately, the “team spirit” and “co-responsibility", which are meant to be embodied in EU solidarity are becoming more and more intangible.