Statewatch News Online: EU's rejection of migrants during the Arab Spring: a "historical mistake" according to Commissioner Malström
28 March 2012
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EU's
rejection of migrants during the Arab Spring: a "historical
mistake" according to Commissioner Malström 
After the start of the
Arab Spring in Tunisia, Commissioner Malström said that
"Europe failed to stand up for democracy, freedom and human
rights" as it prioritised securing the border over supporting
those who had fought for liberty and democracy.
Cecilia Malmström, the EU commissioner for Home Affairs,
was invited on 25 June to the Migration Policy Centre of the
European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy, to give
a keynote speech on "Establishing a European Migration Policy
and responding to the Arab Spring: The ways the Migration Policy
Centre can support Cecilia Malmström". [1]
A year and half after the start of the Arab Spring in Tunisia,
the Commissioner considered that :"Europe failed to stand
up for democracy, freedom and human rights" as it prioritised
securing the border over supporting those who had fought for
liberty and democracy.
"Europe made a historical mistake. It missed the opportunity
to show the EU is ready to defend, to stand up, and to help".
In May 2011, the EU reacted to the "risk" of large
numbers of displaced people reaching its shores by rapidly deploying
humanitarian support in north Africa and engaging its border
security apparatus, including the Frontex operation Hermes in
the strait of Sicily, and pursuing the development of the EUROSUR
system. [2] As argued by Ben Hayes and Mathias Vermeulen in a
recent report: "EUROSUR and "smart borders" represent
the EU's cynical response to the Arab Spring". [3]
Commissioner Malström stressed a number times the difficulty
of Member States facilitating "legal" migration, particularly
in times of economic crisis, and despite the Commission's effort
to promote a "more equal approach" between the EU and
its neighbours.
Commissioner Malström's position, which seems to shift the
responsibility onto Member States, is questionable. The Treaty
of Lisbon gives equal responsibility to the Council and the Parliament
in migration and asylum policy aspects, the Commission still
retains an initiative power in case of "a sudden inflow
of nationals of third countries".[4] No proposal was made
to directly address the humanitarian situation faced at sea and
on EU's territory by those who escaped turmoil and war zones.
Instead, the Commission initiated the adoption of a community-based
mechanism which would enhance the possibility to reintroduce
internal border controls [5], despite the fact this is already
possible under the 2006 Schengen Borders Code.
The Commission also had the power to initiate the use of the
Temporary Protection Directive in case of "mass influx"
from displaced persons "from a specific country of geographical
area". Yet, the Commission did not consider this option
as:
"At this point we cannot see a mass influx of migrants
to Europe even though some of our member states are under severe
pressure. The temporary mechanism is one tool that could be used
in the future, if necessary, but we have not yet reached that
situation".[6]
By the end of 2011, crossing
the Mediterranean had never proved so deadly for irregular migrants
escaping post-revolutionary chaos, discrimination, deprivation
and persecution: between 1,500 and 2,000 people were estimated
to have died at sea in 2011.[7]
Sources
[1] Launching
Event of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC), 25/26 June
2012
Cecilia
Malmström attends the opening of the Migration Policy Centre
in Florence, 25 June 2012
[2] "JO
Hermes - Situational Update", Frontex, 21 February
2012
"The
EU's self-interested response to unrest in north Africa: the
meaning of treaties and readmission agreements between Italy
and north African states"
Yasha Maccanico (2011) Statewatch analysis
[3] Ben Hayes & Mathias Vermeulen (2012) Borderline: EU Border Surveillance
Initiatives, an assessment of the costs and its impact on fundamental
rights
[4] Steve Peers and Tony Bunyan (2010) Guide
to EU decision-making and justice and home affairs after the
Treaty of Lisbon, Statewatch publication
[5] "MEPs
suspicious about Schengen rules review", press release,
May 2011, European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties,
Justice and Home Affairs
[6] "Debate
on migration flows", Cecilia Malström's blog,
6 April 2011
[7] "Lives
lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?"
- PACE draft report, Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced
Persons, Rapporteur: Ms Tineke STRIK, March 2012
"Migration
and revolution", Hein de Haas and Nando Sigona in
Forced Migration Review 39 - North Africa and displacement 2011-2012,
pp.4-5
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