Mediterranean Sea. A new stage in simulating the rapid activity of combating refugee smuggling
The European Union was launching a new phase of its operation to combat Libyan smugglers illegally bringing live goods to Schengen shores, it was announced on Wednesday. As the British The Guardian sarcastically notes, not even six months have passed since the EU leaders promised to tackle this problem.
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However, it is more difficult than it seems to understand what exactly European bureaucrats see as the peculiarity of the new stage of the struggle from the previous stage. The fact is that there is already a naval mission in the Mediterranean Sea to catch everything that sails from Africa, known as the EU NAVFOR Med. And so, according to the head of the foreign policy department, Ms. Mogherini, the forces of this mission now have full rights “to find in international waters and board ships, (after which) those suspected of smuggling and organizing traffic will be delivered to the Italian judicial authorities.” But the problem is that the mission has been doing all this since its creation.
The mission's press secretary, Captain Antonello de Renciz Sonnio, explained that the innovation is that now, refugees will not only be landed in their desired Italy, and violators sent into custody, but also the boats on which smugglers send people to Europe will be destroyed, since Previously, Europeans faced the problem of reusing them. As you understand, this approach to the matter will, of course, have a significant impact on improving the situation with refugees.
Especially considering that in the Mediterranean the navigation season is ending for rubber boats, wooden troughs, air mattresses and circles on which the unfortunate are trying to get to the promised land. So, until spring, the European bureaucrats who decided to start a new stage of the struggle will have something to report on the positive dynamics of the decline in indicators.
However, the main problem is that the format of the European mission itself is completely ineffective. Since the beginning of this summer, organizers of refugee traffic to the EU have found a new route for their purposes - the Balkan route. Coastal navigation is carried out from the coast of Libya to Turkey, from where refugees are already heading to the Balkans in large numbers. To suppress the activities of this route, a UN mandate is required, or permission from the authorities to enter foreign territorial waters. But this is precisely what the EU NAVFOR Med does not have.
English version :: Read in English The Mediterranean: A New Stage in the Simulation of a Vigorous Anti-Refugee Smuggling Activity