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Welcome to EU Politics Decoded, where Eleonora Vasques will bring you a round-up of the latest political news in Europe and beyond every Thursday.
Editor’s Take: The hidden price of the external migration ‘management’
It is common knowledge that the EU and some member states finance the Libyan coast guard to intercept migrants at sea. UN fact-finding missions have found that after they have been intercepted, they are brought to detention centres, where they can face torture by militias.
Still, the EU leaders gathered at an EU Summit on Thursday (1 February) are continuing to feed money to the so-called ‘external dimension’ of the Union, to finance third countries in the field of migration – according to the conclusions of the summit.
It is also understood that the so-called Libyan coast guard has different militias inside its body, as the EU Commissioner for Migration Ylva Johansson also said during a hearing at the European Parliament on the situation in Libya last July.
Despite it having assets donated by the EU countries, a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Tripoli and a Search and Rescue (SAR) zone in international waters, it does not function according to the rules and standards of a conventional coastguard.
In Libya – a militia-governed state – access to free media is almost impossible. Of the reliable reporting that exists, it is clear that the coast guard does not respect international protocols when they perform an interception in international waters – the Libyans have been documented to attack private vessels, such as fishing vessels or NGOs while they are saving lives at sea.
Another episode of aggression occurred yesterday (Wednesday 31 January) when the NGO SOS Humanity was attacked by the Libyans in international waters, Radio Radicale journalist Sergio Scandura reported.
“The Libyan ship came fast on a collision course, crossing a few metres across the bow of Humanity 1 [the NGO boat] which was sailing at 6 knots [per hour]: despite warnings, it continued to turn several times, endangering the crew,” the NGO said.
This is not the first time and will not be the last. Already in March and July 2023, the Libyan coast guard fired at rescuers aboard the Ocean Viking who were performing search and rescue operations at sea.
These episodes are often performed by EU or Italian-funded boats, as Euractiv reported while on a mission on the Ocean Viking last July.
In July 2023, Euractiv asked the European Commission why it is continuing to deliver EU-funded vessels to Libya and whether they will start an investigation about aggression taking place in international waters.
The Commission replied that an investigation was ongoing but did not share details or confirm that they were effectively demanding accountability from their Libyan counterparts for their actions.
At the moment of writing, it seems the EU-Libya relationship is going in the same direction: the delivery of EU assets is unlikely to be interrupted.
In the meantime, the EU summit conclusion confirmed once again that the Libyan case can be a model for other countries to contain migration and manage their borders. But at what cost?
Who is Electioneering
EU election flash poll: Conservative ECR on course to snatch liberal Renew’s fourth place. The national-conservative ECR group may overtake the liberal Renew Europe group as the fourth-largest political force in the European Parliament if the liberals’ downward trend persists, according to Europe Elects’ latest projection for Euractiv.
Capitals-in-brief
Cutro: Italian authorities deemed migrant boat ‘not of interest’ before shipwreck. Italian authorities in the Frontex monitoring room in Warsaw assessed as ‘not of particular interest‘ the sighting of the migrant boat which sank near Cutro in southern Italy last February, the Frontex incident report, obtained by Euractiv, shows. You can find the full report here.
Pylos shipwreck: the complete Frontex incident report on the last June tragedy. This week, Euractiv obtained through a Freedom for Information Request the Frontex incident report of the Pylos shipwreck, where roughly 650 people died. You can consult the full report here.
Roughly 100 people already disappeared in the Mediterranean in 2024. Nearly 100 people have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean sea since the beginning of the new year, according to the UN agency for migration (IOM) that published the data on Monday (29 January). The agency specifies that “the toll is over twice as high as the figure for the same period of 2023, the deadliest year for migrants at sea in Europe since 2016”.
Swedish PM will discuss NATO bid with Orbán. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he will “definitely” have the opportunity to talk to his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán to discuss Sweden’s NATO bid on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, where much is expected of Hungary’s turbulent leader.
French Socialist Party’s EU election list deemed too elitist. France’s Socialist Party is facing internal turmoil over its EU election list, which some in the party believe excludes “workers and employees“, according to a letter from federations and elected officials seen by AFP.
Inside the institutions
Majority of EU Parliament groups seek to preserve committee setup. Following the European Commission’s proposal to revise the European Parliamentary committees’ setup, most political groups prefer to keep the existing structure, a source from the European Parliament close to the matter told Euractiv.
€7.6 billion for EU cooperation with non-EU countries in the field of migration. EU head of states in the EU summit approved the allocation of €7.6 billion to provide effective cooperation on migration with third countries, including border management, support to refugees and to continue previous actions, according to the conclusions of the meeting published on Thursday (1 February).
Far-right ID group invites Orbán’s Fidesz to join their ranks. With the European election rapidly approaching, the far-right Identity & Democracy (ID) group has opened their arms for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party to join the group, its Vice-President Gunnar Beck told Euractiv in an interview.
EU-US trade and tech talks stutter as decisive April meeting looms. Top EU officials struggled to keep EU-US trade and tech talks alive this week, with pressure on both sides of the Atlantic rising to lock in a final policy deal before the November US presidential election.
EU policymakers clinch toward agreement on broadband law. Ahead of the third political inter-institutional negotiation on 5 February on an EU regulation to speed up 5G and fibre roll out, co-legislators are dedicated to finding compromises on the most political topics: the tacit approval principle and intra-EU communication fees.
EU adopts first cybersecurity scheme to certify ICT products. The European Commission adopted the European cybersecurity certification scheme on Wednesday (31 January), the EU’s first cyber scheme to certify ICT products, in line with the aims of the EU’s Cybersecurity Act.
What we are reading
European farmers step up protests against costs, green rules, Gus Trompiz and Christian Levaux write for Reuters
Viktor Orbán: what is the endgame for Europe’s chief disrupter? An opinion piece in the Financial Times suggests
Now’s time for EU directive to let home workers ‘disconnect’, Esther Lynch writes for EU Observer
The next week in politics
Plenary session in Strasbourg at the European Parliament next week, were MEPs will debate and vote in their usual monthly gathering
Informal meeting of Cohesion policy ministers next week on Monday and Tuesday (5-6 February), informal meeting of internal market and industry minister on Thursday and Friday (8-9 February)
Thanks for reading. If you’d like to contact us for leaks, tips or comments, drop us a line at [email protected] or contact me on Twitter: @EleonorasVasques
Read more with Euractiv
Minister of Justice clarifies France’s position over rape inclusion in EU directiveFrench Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti addressed the senate’s women’s rights delegation on Thursday (1 February) taking the opportunity to clarify France’s refusal to include rape in an EU directive.
Source: euractiv.com
