Proposal for closing the Mediterranean routes

The President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, has proposed a 6 billion euro European-Libyan development plan to close the Mediterranean route.

In an opinion piece Mr. Tajani wrote for the German newspaper WELT, he challenged EU members states to find a common way of regulating migration into Europe prior to the EU Summit to be held on 28-29 June, adding that the summit was “the last chance not to disappoint the expectations of half a billion Europeans.”

Mr. Tajani added that Europe’s citizens are no longer willing to accept a defenseless Europe and ”want a union that is in solidarity with those fleeing persecution and wars. But it should also be determined against those who have no right to enter or stay in Europe.”

“On the one hand, we need to ensure that those who are really entitled to asylum safely reach Europe – and that, as of now, no one is leaving Europe for transit from the transit countries and from the African coasts. On the other hand, we need an automatic and compulsory procedure whereby asylum seekers are distributed among the Member States,” he wrote.

Tajani noted that it was also important to prevent traffickers from risking the lives of tens of thousands of people and that those in need of asylum “must not be left to the arbitrariness of unscrupulous people smugglers.”

Alluding to the agreement with Turkey, which closed the Balkan route, as an example, he proposed that the EU invest at least six billion euros to close the Mediterranean routes and recommended that the current cooperation between the EU and Niger should be extended to other transit countries like Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and even Libya.

Citing the 416,000 asylum applications out of 650,000 that were lodged in just three countries: Germany, Italy and France, he referred to the “manifest injustice… linked to the Dublin Regulation, which is increasingly fueling disputes and tensions between our Member States.”

According to Tajani, solutions to the root causes of mass emigration must also be sought such as a ‘Marshall Plan for Africa’ requiring “at least 40 billion euros to mobilise 500 billion euros of investment in the coming decade,” because “with resilient economic diplomacy and quotas for legal immigrants, these investments can help to conclude readmission agreements with countries of origin”

Tajani concluded by calling for a “fairer and more efficient European asylum system”, while also stressing that “immigration threatens to fail the European dream,” and that that cannot be allowed to happen.

TMP – 01/07/2018

Photo caption: EU President Tajani applauding a session of EU Parliamentarians