28 March 2012
Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.
The Independent newspaper, 11 March 2003
"A pioneering joint maritime surveillance scheme to guard Europe's southern seaboard against illegal immigration foundered on the lack of a common language and failed to stop a single person.
When Spain's Interior Minister, Angel Acebes, launched Operation Ulysses in January, he said it would intercept boatloads of clandestine immigrants and send them home. Mr Acebes hailed the scheme as the prototype for a future European border police force.
Boats from five EU member states patrolled the Mediterranean from Algeciras to Palermo in Sicily, between 28 January and 8 February without spotting one illegal boat. But, over that period, some 300 people completed the hazardous crossing from North Africa to Andalusia.
Problems began when crews of the ships from Britain, France, Portugal, Italy and Spain realised that they had no common language. They were told to exchange personnel so they could talk to each other, only to find that the ships' communications systems were incompatible, a report on the operation says.
The British and the Portuguese are said to have pulled out early, while the Italians complained that bad weather stopped them leaving port. The French said the patrol ships were too small for the open seas.
The operation overspent its 1.2 million euro (£830,000) budget, shared by Spain and the EU. Spain wants Brussels to increase its contribution from 60 per cent to 80 per cent for phase two, starting in April, which will extend surveillance to Atlantic waters between the Western Sahara and the Canary Islands.Spain's Civil Guardrecommends using aircraft to monitor large expanses of sea. A British official said yesterday: "It was a learning experience. The first time you mount something like this with five countries there is bound to be room for improvement. We'll learn from this for the next phase, to which we are committed."
Statewatch News online | Join Statewatch news e-mail list | Statewatch websites
Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.
Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.