On the southernmost edge of the Italian island of Lampedusa there is a monument that frames two continents, Europe and Africa, separated by the sea. It is the Gate of Europe, from whose lintel hang outstretched hands, ownerless shoes and nameless faces.. It was erected in memory of those who died in the shipwreck of October 3, 2013 -and those who would succeed them throughout these years-. A tragedy in which 368 migrants died, while another 155 were rescued by fishermen, and which shocked the island. Since then, the Gate of Europe is a symbol that remembers how the Mediterranean has become a great cemetery for people and their dreams.. Tourists who come to the beautiful island have turned it into a reference point where they become aware of the meaning of life.
Among them is Antonia, an environmental activist who comes from Parma every year to help loggerhead turtles nest in the Cala Conigli nature reserve, an event of great importance for this protected species that is one of the two that only reproduce in the Mediterranean after migrating to these beaches for spawning. “The people of Lampedusa have a big heart,” he says, referring to the solidarity that is felt on the island with the migrants who arrive from North Africa, on a journey similar to that made by loggerheads without the need for a visa.
This summer the name of the monolith gained new strength in Lampedusa, when the arrival of up to 10,000 migrants and refugees in just three days last September collapsed the reception system and highlighted the urgency of a new European policy. The immigration reception center, with less than 400 beds, was not able to accommodate the refugees, who were stranded on the island for days. So it was the local population, which barely exceeds 6,000 people, who mostly went out of their way to provide food and shelter to the newcomers.
Since then, the island has once again demanded that Europe wake up and not leave it alone in the humanitarian duty of preventing thousands of people from drowning – there have been more than 28,000 in these 10 years – trying to reach the coast and a future.. And he has demanded a policy that involves all 27 equally and legal means of entry.. “EU and Rome, absent”, “safe channels of regular entry”, “enough of deaths at sea”, read several banners in front of the City Hall.
The mayor of Lampedusa, Filippo Mannino, gives the reception of the more than four million Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion in February 2022 as an example of what Europe is capable of doing when there is political will.. “We have to decide whether the people who have the right to flee war and persecution are only those who have the same skin color as us. Everyone is miserable for it.. “Europe must decide whether to change the Dublin Regulation, just as it must decide whether to establish humanitarian channels so that people in danger can travel,” he told EL MUNDO.
The European Union has been trying to find a new Migration Pact for almost a decade. In 2015, the arrival of a million people fleeing the wars in Syria, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa opened a gap between the 27, shook Schengen and called into question the so-called Dublin Regulation, which in essence says that the The country of first arrival of an asylum seeker is the one that has to process their application. It then became evident the need to seek a balance so that the countries that were overwhelmed by the arrival of refugees received assistance from those that were not affected because their borders were far from the Mediterranean.
After years of entrenchment, at the beginning of this legislature it was agreed to divide the Pact into five regulations that, although they must be treated and approved as a whole, have allowed progress on key issues.. The first four regulations that the European Parliament has been giving shape to were agreed successively with the 27, so that during the current Spanish Presidency of the Council, only the fifth regulation, related to crisis management, remains to be approved.. After many hours of study and debate and endless negotiations, the European Parliament decided last April to give the green light to negotiations with the Member States.. The European Parliament and the rotating presidencies of the Council committed to working together to adopt the new rules before this mandate ends and European elections are held in 2024.
On October 4, the 27 reached a provisional agreement on the fifth regulation, relating to crisis situations and force majeure in the field of migration and asylum.. However, the agreement is still far away: negotiations are now beginning with the European Parliament, whose position is different from that expressed by the States.. MEPs have introduced an independent Fundamental Rights verification mechanism, which will also have powers over border surveillance, and which will ensure that any summary expulsions are notified and investigated. The legislative dossier also includes a binding solidarity mechanism to assist countries under migratory pressure, even after rescue operations at sea.. On these points, some Member States have expressed their reluctance, such as Italy or Germany. For their part, Poland and Hungary openly reject the solidarity mechanism and the point that imposes mandatory reception or financial compensation of up to 20,000 euros per person rejected.. The final legislative package must be approved by a qualified majority, which will force all member states to comply with it, even those that vote against.
The solidarity in the face of immigration that Lampedusians have comes from within them because, as Giovaninno, who runs the natural sea sponge factory shop on Via Roma – Lampedusa's main avenue – that his family started generations ago, says, “we take all life doing it”, is precisely the key word in Europe's effort to modernize its legislative body on migration and asylum. A word that is not only claimed in Lampedusa, but also in Melilla, El Hierro or Lesvos, enclaves that experience similar situations.. In these places they want the 27 to assume their collective responsibility and to enable safe entry routes.. The key, explains Felice Rosa, spokesperson for the local NGO Maldusa, is to “decentralize Lampedusa from the central role it now has within the migration management system.”. The island is an example of what happens in other enclaves exposed to the Mediterranean migratory routes.
“The migration crisis is a major issue at the European level, especially in countries of entry, such as Italy or Greece.. Spain is also a country of entry, but in recent years we Spaniards have remained somewhat removed from the debate at the European level, far from the main migratory flows of the Mediterranean.. After what has happened in the Canary Islands in recent weeks, I believe that the immigration debate has returned to the first page,” explains Juan Ignacio Zoido, of the European People's Party.. His political formation, the MEP explains to this newspaper, advocates “a proposal that guarantees an equitable and supportive distribution of responsibility between the member states of northern and southern Europe.”
European solidarity is a term that the European Parliament has championed in the approval of the five regulations that make up the Migration and Asylum Pact that has now passed into the hands of the Council to negotiate its final wording. And it is a word that some States, led by Hungary and Poland, do not even want to hear about.
A priority for the PP is “the reinforcement of border control” at the European level, highlights Zoido. “If we want to guarantee that the free movement of the Schengen system continues to function, if we want there to be no internal borders, we have to consolidate a good external border. And for this it is essential to strengthen our cooperation with the countries on the other side of the Mediterranean, to work together to combat the mafias that take advantage of the hopes of thousands of immigrants,” says the Spanish politician.
It is now the turn of the 27 to establish a position on the Pact and negotiate its final wording with the European Parliament. Meanwhile, with or without an agreement, migrants and refugees will continue to knock on Europe's doors.