Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has complained about the ongoing discrepancies between the EU states on migration policy. “The dying in the Mediterranean is Europe’s open wound because we have not managed to come to a common migration and refugee policy,” said the Green politician of the “world”.
“As difficult as it is, we must and will continue to work hard on a common position. We must not leave the states on the external borders alone, neither with the people who have been rescued from distress at sea, nor with the people who arrive at the external borders , but are not entitled to asylum and have to be returned.”
Striving for a European sea rescue
Baerbock had been asked whether the EU needed another sea rescue mission to prevent dozens of people from drowning in the Mediterranean – like recently off the Italian coast. Baerbock said: “We need joint responsibility and we have to strengthen solidarity. That’s why I think it’s so important that there is a European sea rescue service.”
In the coalition agreement, the Greens, SPD and FDP had stipulated that they would strive for state-coordinated and European-sponsored sea rescue in the Mediterranean. They spoke out in favor of a “fair division of responsibility between the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea for sea rescue” and for people to be taken to safe places after being rescued.
The EU countries have been arguing about their migration policy for years. In essence, it is about the question of whether and how people seeking protection are distributed in the EU. Because there is no progress, the countries have recently focused primarily on better border protection and cooperation with third countries. Civilian organizations – also from Germany – have been deployed in the central Mediterranean for years to take in migrants and refugees with their ships.
