EU ministers fail to agree on migrant rescue plan

Helsinki: EU interior ministers have failed to agree on an ad-hoc mechanism to distribute asylum seekers reaching the bloc’s shores, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Thursday, while adding that efforts will continue. France and Germany had spearheaded efforts to agree on a temporary arrangement among EU member states to distribute aslyum seekers rescued from the Mediterranean Sea, at informal talks in Helsinki attended also by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. But the discussion, which began late on Wednesday, featured “very different opinions,” Castaner said, with some ministers refusing to take in migrants, others appealing for solidarity and many expressing concern about creating an incentive for more to attempt the journey. The issue will be taken up again at a meeting of foreign and interior ministers in Paris on Monday, the minister said, adding that the goal was to win over around 15 countries for an ad-hoc mechanism. EU member states have long grappled with a common response to migration inflows from northern Africa via the Mediterranean. In the past, Italy has taken in most arrivals, but Rome’s populist government started putting its foot down last year, demanding that other member states accept their fair share. “Ministers from several countries have praised Italy’s policy of defending borders which has led to a drastic reduction of arrivals in Europe and of deaths in the Mediterranean,” Salvini tweeted during the Helsinki talks. On Wednesday, however, Salvini clashed with his French and German counterparts on the issue of migrant disembarkation points. According to a statement issued by Salvini’s office on Thursday, France and Germany pushed for a document stating that Mediterranean frontline states have primary responsibility for taking in sea migrants. Italy and Malta rejected it. Salvini’s office said the risk was that only asylum seekers would be redistributed to other EU states, leaving Italy and Malta with “illegals” who would be difficult to repatriate. New discussions will take place between Italy, France, Germany, Malta and Finland in September, in Malta, the statement said. Under the ad-hoc mechanism backed by Germany and France, decisions on which country takes in how many asylum seekers should be taken on a case by case basis, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Thursday. He had earlier backed away from fixed intake quotas, arguing that this could create the impression of a “de facto border opening.” The issue of migrant distribution makes headlines whenever Italy closes its ports to rescue vessels. Rome caused an uproar by filing criminal charges against the German captain of a rescue ship who took 40 migrants to Italy last month.  — dpa