The new EU border and coastguard agency will lead to new tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 22nd December 2015, Nicosia
The EU is promoting the conversion of Frontex into a common EU border and coast guard that will act even without the approval of Member States. This constitutes a new handover of member state’s sovereignty to the directorate in Brussels, while at the same time it represents a further strengthening of the EU’s repressive mechanisms.
Since the beginning of 2015 until the end of October, more than 3,300 refugees have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea trying to find refuge in Europe. Frontex is burdened with a heap of accusations about its inaction in the face of these tragedies, but also for the systematic violations of the fundamental human rights of refugees. The EU should already have replaced Frontex with multinational search and rescue operations of refugees, building on the valuable experience of agencies such as the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS). However, the EU is doing exactly the opposite with the new border and coastguard agency. Instead of saving lives, it is closing every passage for the refugees, erecting higher walls and guarding its borders, even though European leaders are well aware that as a result of this policy more and more people will be drowning on our continent’s doorsteps.
At the same time, tens of thousands of refugees are trapped in Greece and Italy because a group of EU member states are refusing to participate in a permanent mechanism for relocating refugees. If all the states undertook the responsibility that falls to them and if the EU were indeed a real family based on solidarity and family values, hospitality for refugees from Syria – who do not even represent 0.1% of the population of the EU – could be realized immediately and with minimal difficulties.
AKEL reiterates that unless the foreign-engineered civil war in Syria and the Western interventions in the Middle East are terminated, these countries will not stop bleeding with millions of refugees searching for hope and asylum in Europe.
