translation from article
http://www.internazionale.it/opinioni/michael-braun/2014/09/03/leuropa-richiude-la-porta/
Exactly one month is missing to the sad anniversary of October 3rd . Last year at that time Europe experienced one of the greatest tragedies of immigration, the sinking of a boat full of Eritreans in front of Lampedusa, which cost the lives of 368 people. A few days later, near Malta, died more than two hundred Syrians, also because the rescue started very late because Italy and Malta were passing the buck on intervention.
Italy and the rest of Europe lived this double tragedy as a jolt. Followed weeks in which ministers, heads of state and government and European Commissioners swore that a change was needed in the European reaction to the influx of refugees. That was followed by at least one concrete act: the Italian mission Mare Nostrum.
But now it seems that Europe, encouraged by Italy, wants to celebrate the anniversary in his own way, i.e. by burying Mare Nostrum and establishing Frontex plus. We could also say that Europe will celebrate October 3rd forgetting all the tears a year ago, ripping up all oaths uttered then, taking refuge in the fort again and happily forgetting the human drama of thousands of refugees.
Over the past eleven months Mare Nostrum was the happy exception to the European rule. The reaction of the European Union and its member countries to the arrival of refugees has been a defense with higher and higher fences in Ceuta and Melilla and on the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, with patrols off the coast of Turkey, with often inhumane treatment of refugees.
Instead, Italy has given up the policy of rejections and has embarked on a rescue mission, sending its ships right up to the Libyan coast to help thousands of people in danger.
Italy has rightly claimed the sharing of the mission cost on the part of other European countries, and has also sought to encourage a debate on reception, recalling with good reason that its costs are "south border of Europe". The European partners have turned a deaf ear, leaving the government in Rome essentially alone.
Finally now, however, the "European solution" has arrived i.e. Frontex plus. Too bad that is an antithetical to solution to Mare Nostrum, a solution that realigns Italy to the rest of Europe. No more actions close to Libya, just patrolling territorial waters, with the stated purpose of "defending" the borders, or to limit as much as possible the number of landings.
It is a radical change, which did not cause the slightest jolt of public opinion in Italy and in Europe. It is needless to say that those refugees are "illegal". They are forced to be so given that the application for asylum or humanitarian protection can be asked only in Europe. There is no legal access routes for those fleeing from wars like the one in Syria and for those running away from dictatorships such as Eritrea.
Closing the border of the Mediterranean after the brief interlude of Mare nostrum is nothing more than a conscious decision to leave those refugees again to themselves.
Exactly one month is missing to the sad anniversary of October 3rd . Last year at that time Europe experienced one of the greatest tragedies of immigration, the sinking of a boat full of Eritreans in front of Lampedusa, which cost the lives of 368 people. A few days later, near Malta, died more than two hundred Syrians, also because the rescue started very late because Italy and Malta were passing the buck on intervention.
Italy and the rest of Europe lived this double tragedy as a jolt. Followed weeks in which ministers, heads of state and government and European Commissioners swore that a change was needed in the European reaction to the influx of refugees. That was followed by at least one concrete act: the Italian mission Mare Nostrum.
But now it seems that Europe, encouraged by Italy, wants to celebrate the anniversary in his own way, i.e. by burying Mare Nostrum and establishing Frontex plus. We could also say that Europe will celebrate October 3rd forgetting all the tears a year ago, ripping up all oaths uttered then, taking refuge in the fort again and happily forgetting the human drama of thousands of refugees.
Over the past eleven months Mare Nostrum was the happy exception to the European rule. The reaction of the European Union and its member countries to the arrival of refugees has been a defense with higher and higher fences in Ceuta and Melilla and on the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, with patrols off the coast of Turkey, with often inhumane treatment of refugees.
Instead, Italy has given up the policy of rejections and has embarked on a rescue mission, sending its ships right up to the Libyan coast to help thousands of people in danger.
Italy has rightly claimed the sharing of the mission cost on the part of other European countries, and has also sought to encourage a debate on reception, recalling with good reason that its costs are "south border of Europe". The European partners have turned a deaf ear, leaving the government in Rome essentially alone.
Finally now, however, the "European solution" has arrived i.e. Frontex plus. Too bad that is an antithetical to solution to Mare Nostrum, a solution that realigns Italy to the rest of Europe. No more actions close to Libya, just patrolling territorial waters, with the stated purpose of "defending" the borders, or to limit as much as possible the number of landings.
It is a radical change, which did not cause the slightest jolt of public opinion in Italy and in Europe. It is needless to say that those refugees are "illegal". They are forced to be so given that the application for asylum or humanitarian protection can be asked only in Europe. There is no legal access routes for those fleeing from wars like the one in Syria and for those running away from dictatorships such as Eritrea.
Closing the border of the Mediterranean after the brief interlude of Mare nostrum is nothing more than a conscious decision to leave those refugees again to themselves.
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