Italy will end its migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Thursday, despite warnings that it cannot be fully replaced by soon-to-be-launched European Union sea patrols.
Italy’s Mare Nostrum was launched 12 months ago, following two deadly shipwrecks in which at least 500 people died. In the first nine months of the year, it rescued more than 90,000 migrants, but Rome authorities say they cannot keep up the operation.
“Mare Nostrum will not coexist with Triton, it will be closed down,” Alfano said in parliament, referring to the name of the mission that the EU border agency Frontex is due to start on November 1.
“As agreed with the prime minister (Matteo Renzi), an upcoming cabinet meeting will decide to shut down the operation,” the minister added.
He spoke after Frontex director Gil Arias Fernadez said, during a visit to Rome, that 26 out of 28 EU countries had pledged to contribute to Triton, “more than enough to cover operational needs.”
Despite this, he said the EU mission could not handle the situation on its own.
“The agency and the European Union cannot replace member states’ responsibilities to control their borders; we can only provide support,” he said, adding that any decision on “reducing or ending” Mare Nostrum was up to Rome authorities.
Amnesty International, a human rights group, wrote to Alfano and Renzi to warn them against the move.
“It is now clear that the Triton operation will satisfy current and real maritime search-and-rescue needs to save human lives only partially,” its letter said, according to a statement from the group.
Amnesty said the EU mission would have a 3-million-euro (3.8-million-dollar) monthly budget, against 9 million euros for Mare Nostrum, and would operate only near Italian territorial waters, rather than across the central Mediterranean Sea.
Italy is facing a record influx of migrants, fuelled by unrest in Syria, the Gaza Strip and elsewhere. Arias Fernandez said that about 143,000 had landed on the country’s shores this year, compared to less than 43,000 during 2013.
GNA
