An important conference was held yesterday at the SIOI (Italian Society for International Organizations) on the theme of the reception and protection of refugees in Europe. The occasion was the publication of a study by the CIR (Italian Refugee Center) where, in addition to the analysis of the migratory flows of the last period, the aim is also and above all to stimulate the emergence of alternative options to the crossing of the Mediterranean in the hands of traffickers – as underlined by the strategic adviser of the German CIR Christopher Hein.
Again, the German analyst briefly specifies what these options may be. First of all, it must be clear that not everyone wants to come to Europe, often just a land of passage; moreover, almost everyone would prefer to stay close to their birthplaces, from which they are forced to flee. Right here – continues Hein – there has been a serious mistake by the international and European community which has invested little in providing aid in the vicinity of the countries of origin of the emergency. Secondly, we cannot deny the possibility of a safe escape journey from war zones: we need to build bridges, not walls. On the merits, our proposals aim to provide humanitarian visas for asylum seekers (from 2011 to today, visas for Syrians have reached 0). Providing them to the migrant before he leaves, not upon arrival in overcrowded and overloaded hotspots.
The fulcrum of the conference and of all the interventions was precisely the expression "Bridges, not walls", significantly placed in the title of the round table - also recalling the recent papal words in the last jubilee angelus. To introduce and moderate the contributions of the guests, the director of Tg3 Bianca Berlinguer, who clearly outlines the guidelines and the fulcrum of the discourse that will develop. Two key points: discussion of the Schengen and Dublin agreements. On the one hand the push for the closure of internal borders, defining a de facto return to the pre-community era, on the other the need to go beyond the rule according to which refugee status can only be requested in the country of arrival - sanctioned in Dublin.
Both points will be the subject of the extraordinary European Council to be held in a few weeks, where consensus will be sought to keep the Schengen agreements firm and to propose, in fact, the overcoming of some of the Dublin rules. Franco Frattini, president of SIOI, in this regard, says he is skeptical about the achievement of consensus at a community level given that - as underlined by prefect Morcone - most of the countries, apart from Italy, Sweden and Germany, hide their heads behind the bush in order to do not address the issue on the merits. Frattini then goes on to admonish the ongoing debate on two fronts. First of all, raising the internal borders is a mere nonsense, it would rather be necessary to strengthen controls on the European external borders, especially to the East. Secondly, referring to the possibility of deploying NATO in the Mediterranean, he cuts short by saying that if this is the case, it will be necessary to definitively sanction the failed design of a political Europe with its own foreign policy.
Lastly, the speeches by the leader of the Socialists in Brussels Gianni Pittella and by the undersecretary Sandro Gozi were interesting. The first specifies that we are in the presence of a structural phenomenon, no longer conjunctural, therefore lasting with numbers of asylum seekers that will remain constant for many years, or that could even grow. The MEP then reproaches the political debate on the subject by revealing what in his speech are three false historians. First of all, he says, we need to put an end to the rhetoric of the invasion, when we are talking about 2 million asylum seekers in Europe, while in Lebanon there are 1,5 million for just over 4 million inhabitants and in Turkey alone 3 million. Second, the equation refugee=terrorist has no scientific basis, just think lucidly that people who are fleeing terrorism are being accused of being terrorists. Finally, the problem cannot be solved by closing Schengen, on the contrary it is necessary to strengthen control at the external borders, not to raise internal barriers. Furthermore, we need to start thinking about the cost of non-Schengen which is proving to be very high, especially at a commercial level, yet little and isolated talk about it.
Pittella then goes on to comment on the European diktats imposed on countries like Greece, are madness, he says, recalling at the same time the battle to give 3 billion to Turkey, which is not yet part of the EU - allocating only 250 million for Greece, among the other on condition of significant structural reforms in the short term. We need to unlock the system, she concludes, going beyond national selfishness. Last to take the floor, Sandro Gozi underlined that it is necessary to avoid the confirmation of the status quo in the next Council and to take a necessary and definitive decision on the issue of refugees. The EU, he says, has a tendency to postpone crucial issues where it should, on the contrary, demonstrate the reasons for its existence, marking the reasons for the choices of some member countries, such as Italy's.
Providing a hypothetical European government agenda, Gozi states that alongside the pragmatic short-term solutions – which have yet to be found – we need to start thinking about a structural solution, which requires very complex and long-term negotiating work but which needs be undertaken immediately. Finally, the undersecretary also returns to the theme of steps backwards from Schengen. “His questioning is worrying, it would be a devastating return to the past. Going back to building walls – he concludes – would mean going back to the Europe of the Shoah, of Auschwitz, and it would be really difficult to think of a future for such a Europe”.
The round table in the conference room in Piazza San Marco was of crucial importance because it clearly defined the priorities that the Council, Commission and European Parliament will find themselves discussing in the coming months, hoping for the fastest and most effective decision-making process possible. Just the speed appears to be an element of no less importance. In fact, if in these winter months we are witnessing huge masses of migratory flows with all the climatic difficulties that underlie them, it is not difficult to imagine what a surge can come with the milder months, from spring onwards.
Finally, it seems clear to everyone that the critical phase has already evolved into a structural situation. Pittella said it, Gozi reiterated it and the data provided by the prefect Morcone and the CIR analysts confirmed it. It is therefore clear that hic et nunc solutions cannot be sufficient and it is necessary to go back to thinking about how to build an effective and effective European governance, necessarily juxtaposing a thought to how to lay the foundations for a functioning global governance - given that the problems, however yes, they come from outside the European borders and affect the geopolitical spheres of almost all the players in the international arena.
