EU plans Med. patrol

The Justice and Home Affairs Ministers Council in Luxembourg will today consider a European Commission proposal to set in motion a joint action plan between the EU and Libya in order to halt illegal immigrants from crossing over to Malta, Italy and other Mediterranean countries from the north African country.

The Luxembourg meeting will be attended by Tonio Borg, Minister for Justice and Home Affairs and Malta's permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana.

According to the draft conclusions of the Council, seen by The Times, the EU intends to set up a temporary European task force to patrol the Mediterranean coasts in order to prevent more deaths in the Mediterranean.

The task force will include naval ships and planes and will be conducted in collaboration with the Libyan authorities. The mission will be coordinated under the newly set-up Border Control Agency of the European Union.

The plan also envisages greater cooperation between national authorities responsible for maritime border controls.

According to the Commission, the need for solidarity with the member states involved has long been felt. Justice, Security and Solidarity Commissioner Franco Frattini has been lobbying hard for this plan and held meetings with many of the interested parties, including Dr Borg.

If the proposals are given the green light by the EU ministers, an immediate dialogue between the EU and Libya will be started in order to agree on how this new action plan should enter into force.

The proposals will also have to be rubber stamped by EU leaders during their meeting in Brussels scheduled for June 16-17.

Sources close to the Maltese government told The Times yesterday that the possibility of an agreement between member states "looks good".

Meanwhile, in view of this plan, Amnesty International has expressed concern over the impact of a bilateral or an EU migration partnership with Libya on refugee protection and migrants' fundamental rights. In an open letter addressed to the EU Presidency prior to today's meeting, Dick Oosting, director of the EU office of Amnesty, said that his organisation has on various occasions called for the implementation of solidarity measures for those member states that are in the front line of dealing with sea arrivals.

However, it is "concerned that some EU member states, such as Italy and Malta, have already developed bilateral partnerships on illegal immigration with Libya and have been rushing to deport people from their territory without proper scrutiny of individual cases".

Sources close to the Commission told The Times that in response to the concerns raised, the Commission's proposal makes it clear that the action plan to be initiated with Libya has to be guided by the principles of full respect of human rights.