Five EU nations, including Malta, say that the departure of migrants should be stopped abroad
Saturday, 8 October 2022, 17:47
Last update: about 29 minutes ago
Several Mediterranean nations said on Saturday that the European Union’s border agency Frontex needs to work inside third countries to stop smugglers from endangering the lives of migrants by sending them to Europe on illegal journeys. risky boat.
Top officials from Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus — which receive most migrant arrivals from the bloc’s southern and southeastern borders — said who will give the idea to EU leaders later this month to set up asylum application centers in the neighboring countries of which. successful applicants can arrive in Europe safely.
Such centers help reduce the attraction of smugglers, by allowing people with legitimate fears for their safety at home to travel safely to European countries that have accepted their asylum claims.
“We have wasted so much time making statements and endless finger pointing. Meanwhile, children and adults continue to lose their lives while we ignore the elephant in the room,” said Maltese Interior Minister Byron Camilleri. “How long will it take us Europeans to admit that the only way to save lives is to eradicate people smuggling once and for all?”
The Minister of Migration and Asylum of Greece Notis Mitarachi said that Frontex needs more resources because “when the borders are well protected and well monitored, the loss of lives decreases substantially.”
Mitarachi’s remarks came after back-to-back shipwrecks off the Greek islands of Lesbos and Kythira this week left at least 23 people dead. The Greek Minister again urged the EU authorities to request that Turkey better control its borders and take stronger actions against people traffickers.
The Minister of the Interior of Spain Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomez said that Frontex must work with authorities in third countries to prevent the departure of boats loaded with migrants.
The Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris has expressed concern about an increase in the arrivals of economic migrants amid growing economic hardship abroad and Russia’s war in Ukraine. He said that “the time has come” that third countries that do not accept back citizens whose asylum applications have been rejected should face sanctions.
“It is totally unacceptable for us that a country refuses to return their own citizens back,” said Nouris.
Cypriot Interior Ministry figures show that of the 27,000 migrants who reached ethnically divided Cyprus in the last two years, 6% arrived by boat while 94% crossed a buffer zone controlled by the UN from the third of -North separated.
Nouris last week traveled to the UN headquarters in New York last week to seek help from the world body to prevent such a split.
The ministers again urged the EU to adopt a fairer migrant relocation policy so that the burden does not fall mostly on the southern EU countries.
“We need to send a strong message that Europe will be open. Europe will always have the values that identify us and provide a safe haven for people in need,” said Mitarachi. “But we have to do it in an organized, coordinated and legal way and not let… the smugglers make that choice for us.”