By Martin Banks - 7th April 2011
This tragedy will be the first high profile incident in a long series of avoidable casualties
Claude Moraes
British MEP Claude Moraes says a refugee boat tragedy near the Italian island of Lampedusa is "clear evidence" of the unfolding crisis in the region.
His comments on Wednesday come as a search was under way for 130 migrants missing in the Mediterranean after their boat from Libya capsized in rough seas off Lampedusa.
According to reports, Italian rescue vessels and a helicopter saved 48 refugees from the boat, which had been carrying about 200 people.
Twenty bodies were found at the scene, some 70km from Lampedusa, which has struggled to cope with migrants from North Africa.
On Tuesday, Italy and Tunisia agreed measures to stop large numbers of illegal immigrants arriving on Lampedusa from Tunisia, which has been in turmoil since a revolution in January.
Italy said it will give six-month residency papers to some 20,000 migrants already in Italy, but new arrivals will be deported.
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi visited Lampedusa last week and pledged to tackle the island's migrant influx.
Italy has moved many migrants from Lampedusa to the mainland, because the migrants on the island outnumbered locals and overwhelmed the holding facility there. Unhygienic conditions, with dozens of migrants sleeping rough outdoors, created a health risk.
Speaking in Strasbourg, Moraes, an S&D member, said, "The terrible reports of the refugee boat which capsized at sea near Lampedusa should be clear evidence to EU countries of the immediate and critical nature of the refugee flows in the Mediterranean and it requires urgent EU action."
Moraes, his party's spokesperson on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, added, "This tragedy will be the first high profile incident in a long series of avoidable casualties as a result of a North African conflict.
"Parliament is already trying to adopt a specific resettlement and asylum package to provide safer legal ways of reaching Europe and tackling the activity of people smugglers.
"Unfortunately, this programme is still blocked as EU governments lack the courage to build a common asylum policy which would create burden sharing, fair and just reception conditions and some element of management of migration flows.
"It is time that the asylum package is implemented for the long term, to deal with the type of crisis that we currently face.
"I also believe that in the light of the current emergency, the conditions for activating the solidarity mechanism are now met."
Moraes said he welcomed an initiative taken on Wednesday by EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmström to call on EU governments to change their policy and implement the "temporary protection mechanism" to ensure some burden sharing between EU countries in a time of asylum crisis.
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