EUROPEAN UNION’S EFFORTS IN OVERCOMING PROBLEMS OF … · 2018. 5. 28. · EUROPEAN UNION’S...

EUROPEAN UNION’S EFFORTS IN OVERCOMING PROBLEMS OF IMMIGRANTS THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA LANE 2014-2016

Agung Setio Nugroho[1],

Salieg Luki Munestri, S.S., M.A.[2]

Abstract

The EU faces the problem of an unprecedented flood of immigrants. The Mediterranean Sea becomes a potential gateway, both for refugees and for irresponsible agents. Open borders offer not only greater opportunities in various fields but also cause new problems. The absence of consensus on immigrant handling shows that the EU has no spurs in addressing the internal state issues, especially in handling Immigrants entering Europe through Mediterranean Sea. This research aims to give a brief and general picture on how a regional organization managed to work to secure its territory from threat and crisis. To answer the question about how European Union managed to overcome Migrant Crisis and the problem caused by migrants in the year of 2014-2016, the author uses the concept of international migration and regional security. Then in analyzing these efforts the author uses the theory of Institutionalism. By the end of this journal, the author came to a conclusion that the efforts done by the EU has reduce the influx of migrants but has not been able to stop the migrant crisis because it is a huge extraordinary case and there are still a lot of burden when it comes to a consensus for decision.

Keywords: Asylum, European Union, Migrant Crisis, Migration, Refugee

1 Student ID D0413005, Student of Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and

Political Sciences, Universitas Sebelas Maret, as primary writer 2 Lecturer of Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences,

Universitas Sebelas Maret, as secondary writer

EU’S EFFORTS IN OVERCOMING MIGRANT CRISIS THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA LANE 2014-2016

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UPAYA UNI EROPA DALAM MENGATASI PERMASALAHAN IMIGRAN MELALUI JALUR LAUT MEDITERANIA TAHUN 2014-2016

Agung Setio Nugroho[3], Salieg Luki Munestri, S.S., M.A.[4]

[email protected]

Abstrak

Uni Eropa menghadapi permasalahan membanjirnya imigran yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya. Laut Mediterania menjadi pintu gerbang potensial, baik bagi pengungsi maupun bagi agen penyeberang yang tidak bertanggung jawab. Perbatasan terbuka tidak hanya menawarkan kesempatan yang lebih besar diberbagai bidang namun juga menyebabkan berbagai permasalahan baru. Tidak adanya konsensus terkait penanganan imigran menunjukkan Uni Eropa tidak memiliki taji dalam mengatasi permasalahan yang menyangkut internal negara, terutama menyangkut imigran yang masuk melalui Laut Mediterania. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan gambaran mengenai bagaimana sebuah organisasi regional, dalam hal ini Uni Eropa mengatasi permasalahan dan ancaman terhadap keamanan regionalnya. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan mengenai bagaimana Uni Eropa mengatasi krisis migran dan permasalahan yang ditimbulkannya dalam jangka waktu 2014-2016, penulis menggunakan konsep migrasi internasional dan keamanan regional. Untuk menganalisis upaya tersebut penulis menggunakan teori Institusionalisme. Di akhir artikel ini, didapatkan kesimpulan bahwasanya upaya yang dilakukan Uni Eropa sudah mampu menurunkan arus migrasi yang membanjiri Uni Eropa namun masih belum mampu menyelesaikan krisis migran karena krisis ini merupakan permasalahan yang diluar batas kewajaran dan belum adanya kesatuan dari seluruh negara anggota untuk mencapai konsesnsus dalam keputusan yang diambil Uni eropa.

Keywords: Krisis MIgran, Migrasi, Pengungsi, Suaka, Uni Eropa

3 NIM D0413005, Mahasiswa Program Studi Hubungan Internasional FISIP UNS, sebagai Penulis

Pertama 4 Dosen Program Studi Hubungan Internasional FISIP UNS, sebagai Penulis Kedua

mailto:[email protected]


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INTRODUCTION

Immigrant is a common word to express individuals who move for various reasons.5 Immigrants can be re-categorized as asylum seekers and refugees. According to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees, Asylum Seekers are those who have applied for protection but their request is in the process of determining. If an asylum seeker's request is accepted, it will be referred as a refugee, and it grants him / her the right and obligation in accordance with the laws of the receiving country.6

The EU is currently one of the most destined areas of immigrants around the world. 7 The underlying causes of migrants to come to Europe are vary: poverty, lack of proper education, no jobs, dictatorial pressure, despotic regimes, torture, intimidation, persecution, or civil war.8 Sometimes due to failed states, where bandits and robbers are in charge. They came from Eritrea, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan and from other conflict-ridden countries.9 Migrants make choices to Europe as most countries in the region provide better service than other migration destination countries.10

Immigrants flooding Europe came through various gates. By the end of 2015, IOM was updating its data that the total number of immigrants capable of reaching mainland Europe by 2015 is as many as 1,005,504, consisting of 971,289 people coming through the sea and 34,215 people coming overland.11 This number is way greater than 2014 which records as many as 280,000 immigrants entering Europe.12 The amount above is expected to continue to grow because it doesn’t include the number of immigrants who have not tracked yet. The massive number

5 UNHCR, “UNHCR viewpoint: ‘Refugee’ or ‘migrant’ – Which is right?”,

http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/8/55df0e556/unhcr-viewpoint-refugee-migrant-right.html, Accessed by May 8 2016.

6 Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia, “Pengungsi”, http://jrs.or.id/refugee/, accessed by 14 Maret 2017.

7 Sari, A. P, “Eropa, Tanah yang Menjanjikan Kesejahteraan bagi Imigran”, http://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20150908205805-134-77474/eropa-tanah-yang-menjanjikan-kesejahteraan-bagi-imigran/, Accessed by May 30, 2016 from CNN Indonesia

8 Kudascheff, A, “Fenomena Arus Pengungsi Laut Tengah ke Eropa”, http://www.dw.com/id/fenomena-arus-pengungsi-laut-tengah-ke-eropa/a-18411254, Accessed by May 29, 2016, from Deutsche Welle

9 Ibid. 10 Samosir, H. A, “Mengapa Imigran ke Eropa, Bukan ke Timur Tengah?”

http://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20150908131728-134-77324/mengapa-imigran-ke-eropa-bukan-ke-timur-tengah/, Accessed by May 31, 2016 from CNN Indonesia

11 The International Organization for Migration, “Irregular Migrant, Refugee Arrivals in Europe Top One Million in 2015: IOM”, https://www.iom.int/news/irregular-migrant-refugee-arrivals-europe-top-one-million-2015-iom, Accessed by May 7, 2016.

12 BBC News, “Why is EU Struggling with migrants and asylum?”, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286, Accessed by May 7, 2016.

http://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20150908205805-134-77474/eropa-tanah-yang-menjanjikan-kesejahteraan-bagi-imigran/http://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20150908205805-134-77474/eropa-tanah-yang-menjanjikan-kesejahteraan-bagi-imigran/http://www.dw.com/id/fenomena-arus-pengungsi-laut-tengah-ke-eropa/a-18411254http://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20150908131728-134-77324/mengapa-imigran-ke-eropa-bukan-ke-timur-tengah/http://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20150908131728-134-77324/mengapa-imigran-ke-eropa-bukan-ke-timur-tengah/https://www.iom.int/news/irregular-migrant-refugee-arrivals-europe-top-one-million-2015-iomhttps://www.iom.int/news/irregular-migrant-refugee-arrivals-europe-top-one-million-2015-iomhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286


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of immigrants in 2015 has become a serious problem that has led European countries to emergency conditions. This phenomenon then called the European Migrant Crisis.13 From the data above we can conclude that the sea lane is ranked first in the list of favorite access for immigrants entering Europe, especially through the Mediterranean Sea.

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea stretching from southwestern Europe, from the Strait of Gibraltar in southern Spain to southeastern Europe. This sea consists of the division of smaller sea areas such as the Aegean Sea, Ionia, Adriatic, and Tyrrhenia. This Sea limits Europe to Africa in the south. The extent of the Mediterranean Sea seems to be a giant bridge for immigrants who want a more decent life in Europe. Unfortunately, immigrants entering this route are mostly illegal. Most of them are from Africa and the Middle East. The vast sea is made a potential gap for Transnational Organized Crime actors to carry out criminal practices such as people smuggling.

Responding the problem, the EU then held several meetings to discuss solutions to tackle the increasingly troubling immigrant issues. Among them are the extraordinary meetings of the ministers of 28 EU member states on September 14, 2015 in Brussels, Belgium14 and the EU Ministerial Meeting on January 25, 2016 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands to discuss how to tackle the refugee crisis.15 Even so the meetings that have been done by the diplomatic representatives of EU member states seem to have not yielded the maximum results.

DISCUSSION

Migrants safety

Immigrants who came by sea using smugglers tried to reach countries in southern Europe such as Spain, Italy and Greece. But on their way, some of immigrants failed to reach mainland Europe because they were drowning in the middle of their journey or died from oscillation and ran out of food in the middle of the sea. In 2015 alone, more than 3,770 people were drowned or lost in their attempts to

13 Berlianto, “IOM: Hampir 1 Juta Imigran Masuk ke Eropa”,

http://international.sindonews.com/read/1070807/41/iom-hampir-1-juta-imigran-masuk-ke-eropa-1450526623, Accessed by May 29, 2016 from Sindonews

14 BBC Indonesia, “Uni Eropa Serukan Pertemuan Darurat Soal Pengungsi”, http://www.bbc.com/indonesia/dunia/2015/08/150831_dunia_unieropa_pengungsi, Accessed by January 29, 2017 from BBC Indonesia

15 Egidius Patnistik, “Perpecahan Mengintai Uni Eropa Terkait Masalah Pengungsi”, http://internasional.kompas.com/read/2016/01/26/15180031/Perpecahan.Mengintai.Uni.Eropa.Terkait.Masalah.Pengungsi, Accessed by 29 Januari 2017 dari Kompas Internasional

http://international.sindonews.com/read/1070807/41/iom-hampir-1-juta-imigran-masuk-ke-eropa-1450526623http://international.sindonews.com/read/1070807/41/iom-hampir-1-juta-imigran-masuk-ke-eropa-1450526623http://www.bbc.com/indonesia/dunia/2015/08/150831_dunia_unieropa_pengungsihttp://internasional.kompas.com/read/2016/01/26/15180031/Perpecahan.Mengintai.Uni.Eropa.Terkait.Masalah.Pengungsihttp://internasional.kompas.com/read/2016/01/26/15180031/Perpecahan.Mengintai.Uni.Eropa.Terkait.Masalah.Pengungsi


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cross the Mediterranean Sea to Greece or Italy. 16 Here are some of the incidents that happened to immigrants who crossed through the Mediterranean Sea during 2015, the peak year of the arrival of immigrants17 :

Two ships carrying about 500 immigrants drowned after leaving Zuwara in Libya on 27 August

The bodies of 71 people, believed to be immigrants from Syria, were found in an abandoned truck in Austria on 27 August.

A shipwreck on Lampedusa Island in Italy killed about 800 people on 19 April

At least 300 immigrants are threatened to drown after trying to cross the raging Mediterranean Sea in early February.

Survivors often report abuse and harassment by traffickers who charge thousands of dollars per person for their services. Chaos, particularly in Libya, seems to give traders the freedom to exploit desperate immigrants and refugees to reach Europe.

In addition to the above facts, given the many security-related cases around the world, 50 million refugees are now estimated to be on a dangerous journey to seek asylum and often lead to death.18 The high demand from immigrant candidates expecting an intermediary facility to enter Europe and the lack of oversight and law enforcement for human traffickers in the Mediterranean Sea makes it an increasingly vain list of refugee deaths.

Open Border Threats

As we all know, EU member states and some European countries outside the European Union have agreed on an open border policy so that anyone with citizenship from a country incorporated in the Schengen Agreement and having a Schengen Visa can freely move within the Schengen Area. However, the existence of the open border policy has caused new problems. The influx of immigrants in a huge wave made local authorities felt it is hard to control those who had obtained Schengen visas and move freely in the Schengen area.

Italy which is the gateway for immigrants who cross through the Mediterranean sea get a direct impact of refugees, especially refugees from Libya. Italy issued a policy by allowing refugees to enter the EU region, even granting them Schengen

16 BBC, “Why is EU Struggling with migrants and asylum”, Accessed by June 15, 2017 from BBC

News: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286 17 Ibid, 18 Kudascheff, A. Loc. Cit.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286


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visas to reduce and speed up the refugee data collection process. 19 The policy of the Italian government has undoubtedly created new problems for other EU member states. Countries such as France, Germany and Britain strongly oppose the policies adopted by the Italian government. The three countries are the most visited destinations by immigrants because those are included wealthy countries in the European Union. Based on data from UNHCR since the beginning of refugees wave in 2010, Italy has accommodated more than 5 thousand refugees.20 The refugees are mostly from Tunisia and Libya. The visa granting policy was taken according to the fact that almost every day the refugees kept coming to the Lampedusa Islands, so that Italy could no longer accommodate the refugees.

Since Italy granted permission to refugees crossing through the Mediterranean Sea to move freely in the Schengen area, many countries are tightening border security in their countries, for example Germany and France. In order to secure and avoid the large number of refugees entering both areas of the country they mobilized customs officers and border police to conduct border controls.

In contrast to Italy, Greece built a barbed wall in the border region to reduce the refugees entering its territory. The Greek government seeks to close its borders not only by increasing border controls and the construction of barbed hedges, but sometimes even more harshly by encouraging refugees to return to Turkey.21 This action by Greece is no doubt getting criticism from Amnesty International which considers the actions of the Greek government has injured the basic rights that have been attached to humans, especially the right to protection and asylum.

The policy of installing a guardrail is also done by Hungary to limit its territory to Serbia and Croatia. Although it got a criticism, but the move was then followed by other countries in Europe.22 The problems arising from an open border policy seem to open up a new perception of freedom of movement offered by the policy. Free movements and open borders has two sides. Providing opportunities but also turned out to pose a threat, name one of them terrorism, because of the movement has no control. This problem indirectly threatens the existence of Schengen policy. The EU settlement measures will determine whether this policy should be abandoned or should be maintained

19 Jan-Christoph Kitzler, Miranti Hirschmann, “Masalah Pegungsi, Italia-Perancis tegang”,

accessed by September 22, 2017 from m.dw.com/id/masalah-pengungsi-italia-perancis-tegang/a-14997567

20 Ibid, 21 Tempo, “Yunani Usir Balik Pengungis ke Turki”, accessed by September 22, 2017 from

https://www.google.co.id/amp/s/m.tempo.co/amphtml/read/news/2016/04/04/117759640/yunani-usir-balik-pengungsi-ke-turki

22 Stefan Lehne, “How the Refugee Crisis Will Reshape the EU.” Loc.Cit,


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EU’S EFFORTS TO TACKLE MIGRANTS’ PROBLEMS

Given the increasingly severe immigrant crisis, the EU through a number of meetings then issued special policies aimed at minimizing the impact of the crisis. Here are the EU's efforts to tackle the problems of immigrants that hit the region

1. Establishing European Agenda on Migration (EAM)

On May 13, 2015, the European Union launched a program called “The European Agenda on Migration”. The program was launched to support rapid action to prevent more immigrants from dying at sea and rethinking better plans to help member states that require better immigrant management. In the EAM there are four pillars that are considered capable of assisting the EU in addressing migrant problems, namely23:

a. Reducing the incentives for irregular migration.

b. Saving lives and securing the external borders

c. Strengthening the common asylum policy

d. Developing a new policy on legal migration

The real implementation of this agenda will be explained in subsequent chapters because the EAM is an outline guide on what the EU will do to eradicate itself from the immigrant crisis. The realization of this agenda is a form of cooperation of several agencies and will be realized in specific policies and actions.

2. Launching “Relocation Plan”

The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) is a body established under the EU Regulation 439/2010 and begins its operation effectively from 1 February 2011.24 It aims to strengthen cooperation and coordination among member states to deal with refugees appropriately, improve the implementation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and assisting countries in urgent situations.25 EASO cooperates with the first country on which immigrants and destination countries meet in accordance with the mechanism set forth in the Dublin IV Regulation to relocate refugees.26

23 European Commission, “European Agenda on Migration”, Accessed by August 21, 2017 from

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration_en 24 EASO, “About Us”, accessed by September 22, 2017 from www.easo.europa.eu/about-us 25 Ani Kartika Sari, “Upaya Uni Eropa Dalam Menangani Pengungsi dari Negara-Negara

Mediterania Selatan di Kawasan Eropa”, Jurnal Ilmu Hubungan Internasional, Fakultas Ilmu Sosial Ilmu Politik, Universitas Mulawarman, 3:3, (Samarinda: 2015), p. 549

26 Ibid, p. 553


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The EU through EASO has launched two relocation plans totaling 160,000 refugees. I Relocation Plan, plans to move 40,000 people from Greece and Italy launched in May 2015. The II Relocation Plan was published in September 2015, with an agenda to move 120,000 asylum seekers from Greece, Italy and Hungary.27 Relocations are implemented gradually over a period of 2 years to September 2017. The implementation of relocation embraces bodies such as EASO and Frontex as well as other aid agencies working with the EU and destination countries in accordance with the mechanisms agreed upon by the destination country. This relocation plan is one of the embodiments of EAM.

The relocation plan is based on the ability of recipient countries to meet criteria such as at least receive 40% of the total population, able to allocate up to 40% of their GDP to take care of immigrants, have received an average of 10% asylum seekers in previous years, and the unemployment rate in the country is about 10%. The receiving country will receive € 6,000 for each individual he receives.28

The Relocation Plan is pursued by the European Union as some of the transit countries on the Mediterranean coast such as Italy and Greece are no longer able to stem the flow of migration coming into their territory. Therefore, the European Union as their higher institution in Europe feels the need to intervene in regulating the distribution of asylum seekers who can not be accommodated by these countries to other member countries that have capabilities. This is of course adapted to the system in CEAS, EURODAC, and Dublin III Regulation under review.

Unfortunately when it was announced for the first time in May 2015, this plan was subject to opposition from several countries such as France, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Visegrad countries, and England, who objected the quota system applied by the European Union. The expected relocation project completed in September 2017 finally reached consensus on the condition that these countries were not the destination countries of relocation.

3. Establishing The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex)

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), which previously established under the name of the European Agency for the Management of Operations of Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, is a body established by the European Union on October 6, 2016 to deal with the problems related to the EU border. The agency has become one of the key actors in dealing with issues related to immigrants, especially through the Mediterranean Sea. During the immigrant crisis occurred in 2014-2016,

27 European Commission, “European Solidarity: A Refugee Relocation System”, Accessed by

August 21, 2017 from 2_eu_solidarity_a_refugee_relocation_system_en.pdf 28 Ibid,


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counted several times Frontex conducted humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean region. The purpose of humanitarian operations here is to rescue the refugees who cross using improper vehicles and oscillate offshore so urgently to get help. Frontex plays a role in assisting some single actions by border countries such as Mare Nostrum Operations, humanitarian operations conducted by Italian military in 2014.29

After the discontinuation of Operation Mare Nostrum whose operational costs were considered to be too large to be managed only by Italy, on November 1, 2014, Frontex launched the Join Operation Triton whose members were volunteers from more than 15 countries and worked under Italian control.30 The Posseidon Rapid Intervention initiated in 2015 formed to replace Join Operation Posseidon31 is an EU joint venture with Greece asking for help to keep its land and sea border with Turkey.32

The European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR Med), also known as Operation Sophia, was formed in 2015 in response to the sinking of Libyan refugee carriers in April 2015. The purpose of the EUNAVFOR Med establishment was to clear the Mediterranean waters from vehicles suspected of smuggling refugees to Europe. The operation is done to reduce the possibility of smuggling of refugees and the entry of illegal immigrants, minimize the deaths of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea, and improve the security of EU citizens themselves.33 So far operations involving Frontex are considered to be the most reliable solution to issues related to the safety of immigrants who cross over the Mediterranean Sea and because of the operation, thousands of refugees who crossed through the Mediterranean Sea with improper vehicles were rescued from possible deaths during the crossings.

4. Bailing out

29 European Commision, “Europe’s Migration and Asylum Policy: Small Steps to make a big

difference”, Accessed by August 21, 2017 from 20170203_factsheet_eu_migration_and_asylum_policy_small_steps_to_make_a_big_difference_en.pdf

30 ANSA, “Frontex Triton Operation to Support Italy’s Mare Nostrum”, accessed by September 22, 2017 from www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/10/16/frontex-triton-operation-to-support-italys-mare-nostrum_ad334b2e-70ca-44ce-b037-4d461ec0d560.html

31 Frontex, “Frontex news – Frontex launches rapid operational assistance In Greece”, accessed by September 22, 2017 from www.frontex.europa.eu/news/frontex-launches-rapid-operational-assistance-in-greece-u3rqPy

32 Frontex, “Archive of operations – Posseidon Sea”, accessed by 22 September 2017 dari www.frontex.europa.eu/operations/archive-of-operations/8HPltg

33 European Commission, “EUNAFVOR MED operation Sophia – European External Action Service - European Union External Action Service”, accessed by September 22, 2017 from https://eeas.europa.eu/csdp-missions-operations/eunavfor-med_en


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The European Union through the European Commission has taken a comprehensive approach to addressing the refugee crisis in Europe with the European Agenda for Migration.34 To support the four pillars of the EAM, the European Commission's Department of Humanitarian and Civil Protection provided assistance to refugees and communities that accommodated them through several mechanisms such as:

a. Provide emergency support for internal EU

In April 2016, the European Commission poured a € 83 million humanitarian fund for an emergency support project to help refugees in Greece. The project works with UNHCR, the Red Cross, the International Rescue Committee, the Danish Refugee Council, Medicins du Monde, OXFAM, Save the Children and the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund. Most of the funds are used to address the most pressing humanitarian needs of about 50,000 refugees and migrants currently in more than 30 locations in Greece.35

Emergency relief funds are available to member countries whose emergency response capacity is challenged by the sudden entry of refugees. This assistance is provided to assist the efforts of refugee member countries with close coordination with the countries in question together with the humanitarian organizations that are partners of the European Commission such as UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and international organizations. The assistance can be used for the provision of basic necessities such as food, shelter, hygiene kits, child-friendly places, family unification assistance, medicines and protection / security.

Through the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism, the European Commission coordinates the delivery of materials directly to assist member states and neighboring countries exhausted in taking care of refugees that are out of their emergency response capacity. Assistance provided only at the request of the affected country, based on the voluntary contributions of the participating countries in the mechanism.

The mechanism has been activated to help cope with the number of refugees that have multiplied by 2015 and in some member states the mechanism remains active until 2016. Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Greece have received material assistance such as winter tents, and blankets from countries supporting

34 European Commission, “Refugee crisis in Europe”, Accessed by February 15, 2017 from EC:

http://ec.europa.eu/echo/refugee-crisis_en 35 European Commission, “Emergency Support in Greece”, Accessed by February 15, 2017

http://ec.europa.eu/echo/sites/echo-site/files/3018525965.jpg

http://ec.europa.eu/echo/refugee-crisis_en


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this mechanism36 to help them better address refugees and asylum seekers. This mechanism is coordinated by the Emergency Response Coordination Center (ERCC), an agency working in emergency disaster management. The body is also in charge of closely monitoring the refugee crisis and facilitating a coherent and efficient European response.37

b. Helping transit countries with humanitarian funds

The European Commission is assisting refugees fleeing violence from Syria and Iraq in Turkey especially the people who are still living outside refugee camps. Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the European Commission has provided total assistance of € 455 million for refugees in Turkey, including humanitarian aid and long-term assistance. In November 2015, the EU established facilities for refugees in Turkey. EU institutions and member countries commit to financing up to € 3 billion to be channeled to refugees in Turkey in the form of facilities. Of this amount, € 240 million has been realized until the end of 2016. 38

Since the beginning of the refugee crisis, the European Commission has also provided humanitarian aid of over 22.5 million euros to the Western Balkans, mainly to Serbia and Macedonia.39 Assistance is channeled through a humanitarian organization who has a cooperation with EU, to the people in need, comprising emergency aid in the form of food, water, hygiene, health, and basic protection distributed in transit locations.

In Libya, the European Commission has donated more than € 8 million for humanitarian assistance since mid-2014.40 This assistance is channeled to support refugees within Libya and other vulnerable groups in the form of providing protection, health care, cash support, psycho-social assistance , food and hygiene kits.

c. Increase aid for immigrant’s country of origin

The EU and its member countries are the leading donors of humanitarian aid in all countries of origin of refugees currently arriving in the European Union, including Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Horn of Africa and the Sahel. By 2015, the European Commission provides over 72% of its annual humanitarian aid budget or about € 1 billion41 for projects that help refugees and displaced persons.

36 European Commission. 2017. Accepted Participating States' Support to Civil Protection

Mechanism for Greece accessed by June 14, 2017 from: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/Refugee_Crisis/EUCPM_Support_en.pdf

37 European Commission, “Refugee crisis in Europe”, Loc.Cit, 38 Ibid, 39 Ibid, 40 Ibid, 41 Ibid,


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The European Commission has raised targeted funds for refugees to € 200 million by 2015 and € 300 million by 2016. These funds are channeled to the UN High Commissioner on Refugee (UNHCR), the World Food Program (WFP) and other organizations, including Red Cross and International NGOs to assist Syrian refugees. At a donor conference beginning in February 2016 in London, the EU and its member states pledged another € 3 billion to help the Syrian community as well as refugees and the communities that accommodate them in neighboring countries.42

5. Konsolidasi dengan Turki

Turkey is a forefront country of refugees entry from Syria and other western Asian countries to Europe. Therefore Turkey has an important role to regulate and stem the influx of immigrant waves to Europe. Turkey is also expected to become a refugee shelter country when Europe is no longer able to cope with the influx of refugees from all over the world. The significance of Turkey's existence was apparent when at a summit held in Brussels on July 3, 2016, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was also present. There, EU member state leaders asked the Turkish government to accept massive deportation of migrants from Greece.43 EU countries are calling on Turkey to accept and participate in agreements to slow the flow of refugees, tighten security for refugee flows on Turkish borders and take action against people smuggling. Demand from the EU actually incriminates Turkey which has housed so many refugees from the turbulent country in the region. But on the other hand, it is beneficial to Turkey because then the status of its membership registration can be reviewed because Turkey has a fair bargaining position by European Union asking for its help.

Europe has pledged € 3 billion in compensation to the Turkish government, but Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected the sum offered by the European Union. Due to the increasingly urgent immigrant issue, the Turkish President was invited to the EU summit where Turkey declared its most important demand, namely the visa-free travel application to Europe, to be accepted as early as October 2016. 44

Politically, what makes the EU difficult to accept Turkey's demand is because of Turkey's war politics against the Kurds and its ambivalent role in the war in Syria which is contrary to the peaceful political views of the EU. European Parliamentary President Martin Schulz said there was "no discount" for Turkey when it came to issues related to basic and universal values.45 However, Turkish

42 Ibid, 43 Deutsche Welle, “Uni Eropa Bingung Hadapi Krisis Pengungsi”, Accessed by June 14, 2017

from DW: http://www.dw.com/id/uni-eropa-bingung-hadapi-krisis-pengungsi/a-18926183 44 Ibid, 45 Ibid,


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representatives can gladly point out that their country has an important role in crisis solutions in Europe. In an interview with the BBC, the Turkish Ambassador to European Union, Selim Yenel again cited Erdogan's assertion that migrant flows could be mobilized again at any time, if the EU does not meet all Turkish demands.46 In the end the talks resumed with the results of the Turkish Government willing to close the border with some of the financial aid offered by the EU but up until now the visa-free demands filed by Turkey have not received clarity as the EU suspends it until the migratory crisis subsides.

THE RESULT

Efforts to overcome the problems related to immigrant crisis by the EU through regulations, financial assistance, the establishment of a special agency to take care of immigrants, extraordinary policies up to negotiating with parties outside the EU surely fine to get some compliments. These efforts at least show such results:

1. Thousands of lives were saved

Since the incident that killed 365 Africans near Lampedusa Island on October 16, 2013, the Italian Government moved itself to initiate an illegal immigrant rescue movement in the Mediterranean region by launching a humanitarian operation by its army named Mare Nostrum. Since the operation was suspended due to the huge funds constrained, the rescue action of the refugees hooked up bigger actors like Frontex under the EU following Mare Nostrum's steps with Operation Triton in 2014 and EUNAVFOR Med or better known as Operation Sophia from 2015 to 2016. Frontex who cooperate with the governments of border states intensively conduct scans of illegal refugees who cross over the Mediterranean Sea. During 2015-2016 the cooperation has saved more than 400,000 lives, captured more than 2,000 unexpected smugglers and traffickers, and wiped out 375 improper crossings.47

2. The Decrease of migrant influx

Since the cross-border agreement between the EU and Turkey was signed on March 20, 2016, the number of people migrating to Europe through Turkey has decreased significantly. The flow of migration in October 2015 reaches 10,000 people a day drops 98% to 80 people per day.48 According to data obtained from Eurostat, applications submitted by asylum seekers to Europe, both EU and non-

46 Barbara Wesel, Loc.Cit, 47 Ibid, 48 Ibid,


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EU members fell by almost 40% from 1,325,565 in 2015 to 812,860 in 2016.49 For European countries, this result of EU policy is a positive trend. Border closure in some countries also contributes to the decline in the number of asylum seekers received by Europe. However, in addition to the performance of the European Union, the decline of asylum seekers is also allegedly due to the relief of tensions occurring in the countries of origin of asylum seekers so that displacement also begins to decline, not as high as 2015, its peak year.

3. Relocation Plan did not meet the target

We have previously learned that the EU is planning to move a total of 160,000 people within 2 years until September 2017. Until June 9, 2017, 20,869 people have been relocated from Italy and Greece to various countries in Europe. This amount is still far from the total refugees that should have been moved according to the original plan. Some of the countries mentioned in the previous section who opposed to this relocation plan ultimately did not really open up to accommodate the refugees or only accommodate small numbers compared to the refugee targets that had to be moved. 50 This shows that there is still a rift among EU member states. Those who declare themselves surrender some of their sovereignty to join the EU are in fact not entirely subservient to all policies issued by the European Union. Again we see evidence that national interests can not simply be sacrificed to achieve regional interests. The issue of immigrants comes when the solidarity of EU countries is at a low point, where the slow recovery of the regional economy after the Greek crisis and the slowing of the global financial sector have made countries reluctant to waste money by accommodating newcomers. The fact that they are members of a union that is an organization of the region is also ruled out.

4. Dublin III Regulation revised

Currently the EU's policy on refugee handling issues still refers to the Dublin III Regulation System which stated that every refugee entering the European territory should arrange for asylum in the first country they enter.51 According to existing rules, these IDPs will be processed using the European Dactyloscopy (EURODAC) system which identifies asylum applicants in Europe using a

49 Eurostat, “Asylum and first time asylum applicants by citizenship, age and sex Annual

aggregated data (rounded)”, Accessed by February 9, 2017 from Eurostat: http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=migr_asyappctza&lang=en

50 European Commission, “European Agenda on Migration: Commission calls on all parties to sustainprogress and make further efforts”, accessed by September 21, 2017 from europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-1587_en.htm

51 Migration and Home Affairs, “Country Responsible for Assylum Application (Dublin)”, accessed by July 25, 2017 from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants/index_en.htm


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fingerprint database.52 The mechanism, immigrants coming through one of the EU countries are required to register their personal data and fingerprints to be registered as legal immigrants in the transit country before being allowed to travel to other EU countries. This is done to prevent double data collection of a person's immigration status in several EU countries at once.

In fact, refugees entering Italy, Hungary and Greece only make these countries a transit point for refugees, not as refugee destination countries. If they follow the Dublin III Regulation, of course this incriminates countries like Greece, Hungary and Italy because it has to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees who enter through their area.

The uncontrolled flow of immigrants entering through its territory made Hungary in the first quarter of 2016 officially closed its border gate on the grounds of 'emergency refugees'. This border closure policy also imposes legal sanctions for refugees who desperately enter and damage the border fence. The action was followed by Austria.53 This raises the dilemma that Dublin III Regulation as a formal legal document agreed upon as a reference in dealing with immigrants is no longer functioning properly.

In response, from June 2015 the EU established a review body that serves to evaluate the implementation of the Dublin Regulation. The European Commission then issued a proposal to revise the Dublin III Regulation called Dublin IV Regulation in May 2016. The points corrected in the Dublin IV Regulation proposal include54:

1. Increase the capacity of the immigrant regulatory system, especially regulating which country should be responsible for immigrants entering in as efficient as possible.

2. Ensure a fair share of responsibilities for migrants in accordance with the capabilities and proportions of each member country.

3. Minimize misuse by establishing a proportional immigrant service procedure

4. Protecting the interests of immigrants, especially minors.

52 Migration and Home Affairs, Identification of Aplicant: EURODAC, Accessed by July 25, 2017

from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/identification-of-applicants/index_en.htm

53 BBC, “Migrant Crisis: Hungary’s Closed Border Leaves Many Stranded”, accessed by July 25, 2017 from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34260071

54 European Commision, “Country Responsible for Asylum Application”, accessed by August 2, 2017 from ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants_en

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/identification-of-applicants/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/identification-of-applicants/index_en.htmhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34260071


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The rule applies automatically when a country gains an immigrant overflow beyond the proportion of the limit it can afford. If immigrant waves exceed 150% of the country's capacity, the excess immigrants will be automatically diverted to other countries that are still able to accommodate the immigrants. Member States may also choose not to open up to accommodate immigrants on condition that the country should allocate € 250,000 for each immigrant they are supposed to hold.55

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE STUDY

Although the EU is one of the most successful unions to lift its member economies and serve as an example for other developing countries and regions to the same level as the EU, the migrant crisis is in fact not a trivial crisis. This crisis is really testing the EU with various problems such as politics, solidarity, unity, economy and terrorism as well. Even the well-known European Union product Schengen Agreement also got a test because of the influx of large waves of people who could have moved freely in the Schengen area.

So far the EU has not managed to address some of the problems related to refugees who crossed through the Mediterranean Sea. The European Agenda on Migration and Relocation Plan has not been fully implemented. The European Asylum Support Office can not accommodate the interests of all EU members to reach consensus. Dublin Regulation as a benchmark in taking care of immigrants also need a lot of revision. Not to mention Turkey's request to join the EU shows that there is still a lot of homework the EU needs to solve the impact of the immigrant crisis that has devastated the foundations and beliefs that have been painstakingly built by EU authorities.

We never know when a crisis will happen. All we can do is to prepare everything possible before forming or establishing something, be it organization, regulation, policy or any kind of cooperation. EU as a quite advanced organisation, could just go nuts when being hit by problems as hard as migrant crisis, let alone other emerging communities such as ASEAN, African Union, Arab League and other regional associations. The authors suggest on a regional basis outside the European Union to study the shortcomings and errors that the EU has made in order not to repeat it in the future. We take the example of ASEAN which is now also experiencing the same problem with a smaller scale, namely the massive migration of Rohingyas from Myanmar.

The immigrant crisis is not over yet. The author suggests for the next researcher to continue to develop and update the existing data in this study for future

55 Ibid,


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learning purposes. Hopefully this research can be a pioneer and a useful material to enrich the insight and become a reflection material before suggesting or taking policy.

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EUROPEAN UNION’S EFFORTS IN OVERCOMING PROBLEMS OF … · 2018. 5. 28. · EUROPEAN UNION’S...

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