Europe’s Promised Action on Migration Crisis Is Criticized as Inadequate

BRUSSELS — Struggling to cope with a growing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, European leaders promised on Thursday to triple their spending on border protection and approved plans to intensify efforts to root out smugglers’ boats before they could set sail, among other measures.

But experts and advocacy groups said the plans announced by leaders meeting in Brussels were far too small in scale to stem the flow of illegal migrants or prevent disasters like the capsizing of a ship carrying mostly African migrants off the coast of Libya last weekend, which killed as many as 900 people. Funerals for 24 of the victims were held Thursday in Malta, but few of the migrants’ bodies have been recovered.

Migrants from Africa and the Middle East, buffeted by war and abetted by ruthless smugglers, have been crossing the Mediterranean in increasing numbers in unseaworthy boats. Many never make it.

Leaders’ efforts to formulate a response are hindered by intense budget pressures, a patchwork of migration policies across the 28-member European Union and a simmering backlash against immigrants across the Continent.

Officials said Thursday that the European Union planned to triple the budget of its Triton border protection operation, now at about 3 million euros, or $3.22 million, a month. The force now includes two aircraft, two helicopters, six coastal patrol boats and about 65 officers, bloc officials said.

But experts and nongovernmental organizations said the problem’s scale and root causes had not been addressed. Amnesty International noted that the Triton operation patrols only within 30 miles of the Italian and Maltese coasts, far from where many of the deaths at sea occur. Others contended that extending the search-and-rescue program could encourage even more desperate migrants to try to reach Europe.  Read More at NYT

• Europe’s Promised Action on Migration Crisis Is Criticized as Inadequate

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