Last Monday, the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted on a draft report re-evaluating rules on Frontex sea operations.
Member of the European Parliament for Malta, Roberta Metsola said that “The draft Regulation has raised a number of issues, namely that of disembarkation after interception or rescue at sea during a FRONTEX operation. This was the key issue for me and for Malta. As the text currently stands, should Malta host a FRONTEX operation, all the people rescued at sea in that operation could be brought to Malta as the host Member State, irrespective of where in the sea they are rescued. This is unacceptable from a humanitarian and practical point of view. It could mean that a situation arises whereby rescued people are forced to travel on a vessel for days in order to be brought to Malta, bypassing closer safe places.”
Dr Metsola stated “To me, it makes no sense for people to be rescued in a joint operation from the sea off Greece, for example, only to then spend days aboard a vessel travelling to Malta, as the host Member State, when there are other safe places they could be disembarked in first.
“Together with other like-minded MEPs, I tabled amendments that would have meant that people are disembarked in a suitable port or place of safety but as the only Maltese MEP in the committee I was in a minority and the text passed without this amendment at this stage. A number of EPP Members of the Committee largely backed my amendments but we were not supported by any of the Socialists or other groups in the Committee.
This was a first step in the process and by no means a final vote. The Committee voted to give a mandate to the rapporteur to begin negotiations with Council and the Commission in order to come up with a final text that will be put to Member States and MEPs at a later date. When the negotiated text comes back in front of MEPs I will continue to take a strong stand on the issue of disembarkation” said Dr Metsola.
“The negotiations are far from over. I am hopeful that because of the pressure I have placed in the European Parliament, the final text would still be one that would enable Malta to host FRONTEX operations. The next steps are that the text will now start to be negotiated with the European Commission and Council and it will continue to be amended before coming back in front of MEPs. The ball is now in the Government’s court to ensure that they back my arguments in Council and push Malta’s position forward – as I will continue to do, through the European Parliament. Once these negotiations are over, and we have a final text in front of us, we can then take a final decision” added MEP Metsola.
