The dark waters of maritime politics

Dear readers,

Welcome to EU Politics Decoded where Benjamin Fox and Eleonora Vasques will bring you a round-up of the latest political news in Europe and beyond every Thursday. In this edition, we look at how the lack of information about operations in the Mediterranean Sea makes it almost impossible to know the extent of the EU’s migration crisis.

Editor’s Take: The dark waters of maritime politics

On 15 June, a day after the shipwreck of a crowded boat left dozens dead near the coast of Pylos in Greece, European Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer replied to a journalist’s question on the tragedy: “We are talking about something that we do not know about,” referring to operations at sea.

“You are saying, ‘go and help people in distress’. Personally speaking, I would be very cautious as to what can or should be done by professionals in this type of situation. What transpires between two vessels at sea, especially when one of the vessels is overpopulated is not something that you or I can judge,” he said.

In other words: hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

This should be extremely concerning. Who, then, has the right to be ‘at sea’? Who can share factual information so that we know whether international law is respected or not? We know that representatives of the EU, member states, military operations, and NGOs are operating at sea and witnessing what is happening in the Mediterranean.

Yet – apart from NGOs – none share the evidence and operational details needed by the media and the public.

For proper analyses of events, we need the name and the description of interceptions, the data gathered during interception, such as location, speed, analysis of the footage and many other details, in order to gather a full picture of the operations that we know are taking place.

The EU border agency Frontex and the EU military operation EU NAV FOR MED Irini are among those operating in the region. They share information with the EU executive, but the Commission is very cautious about sharing operational details with the press.

In February, following its interception of a shipwreck that occurred near the southern Italian town of Cutro in which roughly one hundred people died, Frontex shared some operational evidence about their involvement, as EURACTIV reported.

After Cutro, Frontex stopped sharing such details with the public. For instance, EURACTIV asked for operational information about an interception that happened on 23 May, to reconstruct an alleged pushback by Libyan militia. Frontex told EURACTIV about three interceptions that happened that day, but did not reply when asked for further details.

Irini cannot share information about the position of their units at sea since such information is classified, and in general, they limit the kind of information they can share.

The NATO operation Sea Guardian is also in the Mediterranean Sea – but likewise, it is not authorised to share positions of units, providing limited answers when asked about people in distress at sea.

Of course, there are also national coastguards – however, any information they share is inevitably refracted to some extent through a country-specific lens. With migration policy such a political lightning rod, this is no small factor.

EU or NATO units are national vessels or planes with a member state flag. As such, they exchange staff and rely heavily on their work with national governments.

There are also NGOs at sea or in planes, who share data. However, the campaign by several member states to criminalise their activities has led to growing public hostility and operational barriers to these rescue missions.

There are movements that journalists can follow online, in real-time. However, without operational details, they are not enough to reconstruct events – an outline only. Certainly short of providing enough information to verify a possible violation of international law on the waters.

We do not really know the reasons for the lack of coordination in search and rescue operations. Based on the limited information available, we can make educated assessments – but ultimately, these fail to paint the full picture of accountability.

That leaves reporters navigating dark waters – literally – when covering maritime politics.

Politics in The Spotlight

The next EU elections will take place in exactly one year. You can watch our video explainer about the 2024 turnout here.

EURACTIV asked the presidents of the European Parliament’s political groups what they think the EU electoral campaign will look like. We will publish a new video interview each Monday, you can find the special report page here.

This week we spoke with the co-president of The Left group Manon Aubry, who told EURACTIV that the Left will have a spitzenkandidat for the next European elections,

Capitals-in-brief

Kaczyński returns ahead of key polls. Former Prime Minister, Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party will return to the government as deputy prime minister, in a role that is expected to focus on co-ordinating the government’s agenda ahead of elections later this year.

Kosovo ‘jeopardising EU prospects’ chides minister. Germany’s minister for Europe says that the Kosovan government is “really jeopardising their EU future”, in its handling of the situation in northern Kosovo where ethnic Serbian members of local government have resigned en masse. In an exclusive interview with EURACTIV, German Minister of State for Europe Anna Lührmann said that the need for de-escalation “also applies to Pristina”.

Brexit prioritised over pandemic. The UK government’s no-deal Brexit planning crowded out efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the first evidence session of the COVID-19 Inquiry into the UK’s handling of pandemic.

Rehn eyes Finnish presidency. Former EU commissioner Olli Rehn has launched his candidacy to become Finland’s next president at a press conference on Tuesday (20 June) where he emphasised continued support to Ukraine and close cooperation with the West, particularly the European Union and the US.

Rehn, who as EU economy commissioner was at the heart of the bloc’s handling of the eurozone debt crisis, is currently Governor of the Bank of Finland.

Inside the institutions

‘Creating a wave’. The European Parliament’s €37 million communications budget to drive interest in next year’s elections amounts to €0.08 per citizen and is “almost peanuts” compared to other institutions and governments’ budgets, the assembly’s spokesperson Jaume Duch told EURACTIV.

“Creating a wave” focused on mobilising abstainers and first-time voters to the polls will direct the Parliament’s spin operation, Duch said.

Qatargate probe in doubt after judge quits. The resignation of the judge leading the investigation into the Qatargate scandal risks disrupting the prosecution of those involved, a lawyer involved in the case told EURACTIV.

Michel Claise resigned this week after it was revealed one of his sons had set up a company in 2018 with the son of Belgian MEP Maria Arena, whose name appears in the case file as a regular interlocutor of former MEP Antonio Panzeri who has already taken a plea deal.

What we are reading

Emmanuel Macron’s global financing summit is an attempt to bridge the growing divide between north and south, argue Celia Belin and Lauriane Devaize for the European Council for Foreign Relations.

The EU and UK are still drifting apart seven years after the referendum but the public want to make a new start, writes Tim Garton-Ash in the Guardian.

The next week in politics

Migration, security and defence and the EU’s continued financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine will dominate the agenda when EU leaders gather for the European Council summit on Thursday and Friday (29/30 June).

Agriculture and fisheries ministers and their foreign affairs counterparts will meet in Brussels on Monday (26 June).

In the European Parliament, a committee week is dominated by the biannual summit of the EU-African, Caribbean and Pacific joint parliamentary assembly, which is set to discuss the continued delays to the ratification of the post-Cotonou treaty.

Thanks for reading. If you’d like to contact us for leaks, tips or comments, drop us a line at [email protected] / [email protected] or contact us on Twitter: @EleonorasVasques & @benfox83 [Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]