Establishment of refugee camps outside the EU

2.6.2016

Question for written answer P-004582-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Paavo Väyrynen (ALDE)

On 26 May 2015, I wrote a letter to the appropriate member of the Commission proposing that immigrants seeking to enter Europe from across the Mediterranean should be placed in refugee camps to be established in cooperation with the UNHCR and the Libyan authorities.

My proposal was based on news in the press that Libyan border guards were trying to prevent smugglers’ boats from departing for Europe. It was also reported that in Libya thousands of people who had sought to make their way to Europe were living in appalling detention centres. In September, I tabled a written question to the Commission on the subject in which I expanded my proposal on establishing refugee camps to cover people attempting to travel to Europe through the Balkans (P-012392/2015).

Regrettably, the Commission did not take up my proposal. In its reply, it referred to its previous answers to Questions E-007111/2014 and E-006826/2015, which did not concern the refugee camps I had proposed.

Recent events have shown that there is a willingness in Libya and other North African countries to cooperate with the EU to bring migration under control. On the other hand, Italy’s Ministers of the Interior and Foreign Affairs have recommended that efforts should be made to establish a system based on agreements with African countries, analogous to that with Turkey.

As the situation has remained out of control, will the Commission now consider establishing refugee camps in the Balkans and, in addition to Greece, in North Africa as well?