New EU military mission will target and destroy boats used by migrant traffickers

The European Union is to launch a military operation to destroy boats used by human traffickers smuggling migrants across the Mediterranean in the strongest move yet by the EU to tackle the migration crisis unfolding on its southern shores.

While Ireland has already dispatched a Naval vessel, LE Eithne, to the Mediterranean to help in the search and rescue of migrants, the Government is not expected to participate in the naval operation to destroy vessels, which is subject to a UN mandate.

While declining to confirm whether Ireland would participate in the naval operation endorsed by EU foreign and defence ministers yesterday in Brussels, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan and Minister for Defence Simon Coveney stressed that any Irish involvement in a military mission would need UN, Dáil and Seanad approval.

Partnership

“We have made a Government decision in relation to LE

Eithne

. . . and that decision is to work in partnership with

Italy

on a bilateral basis on humanitarian search and rescue tasks,” Mr Coveney said.

"That's what the LE Eithne will be doing unless there is a Government decision to change that and I don't think there will be anytime soon."

Asked if Ireland would sign up to a European Commission proposal launched last week to relocate migrants who have already reached European shores, Mr Flanagan said that Ireland had announced plans to resettle 300 migrants from outside the European Union. In terms of migration, he said that the burden had fallen predominantly on five EU member states.

“Ninety-five per cent of the migrants have been settled in five states. We believe that is unfair. We will live up to our responsibilities in that regard in terms of whatever final plan is agreed at EU level.”

Ireland and Britain have an automatic opt-out of last week's European Commission proposal to redistribute migrants who have arrived in Europe across the bloc on a proportional basis.

Mandatory

While Britain has already indicated it will not participate in a mandatory EU relocation programme, Ireland has three months to decide whether to participate.

Mr Flanagan also raised the Middle East peace process during yesterday’s meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, criticising the lack of progress on the two-state solution and urging the EU to prioritise the issue.

“The peace process is at standstill . . . We know that events on the ground are rapidly closing the window on a possible two-state solution,” he said during the meeting.

Smugglers’ boats

Yesterday’s decision by the EU to back a naval operation to specifically target smugglers’ boats represents the boldest move yet by the European Union to tackle the issue of illegal immigration which has left thousands of people dead in the Mediterranean.

While the mission needs the backing of a UN Security Council mandate, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherni, said she hoped to secure the UN's backing by next month.

The question of intervening in Libya has been highly controversial in Brussels in recent months, with a number of countries, including Ireland, Sweden and Austria, opposed to military involvement in the region which is being racked by civil war.

Surveillance

The naval operation to tackle criminal gangs will be headquartered in Rome.

It will comprise of three phases – an initial phase of intelligence-gathering and surveillance in order to identify criminal gangs, a second phase which would identity smugglers’ boats, and a final phase which would allow for the destruction of the vessels. It is expected to get final approval in June.

Speaking ahead of yesterday's meeting in Brussels, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg suggested that Nato would be willing to help in a naval mission, suggesting that Islamic State militants could be among those being transported by people smugglers across the Mediterranean.