Frontex patrols seize fuel and food to force migrants crossing the Mediterranean to return to their point of departure.
This is the frank admission of the chief of Italy’s Guardia di Finanza in a documentary by filmmaker Roman Herzog for German public radio ARD.
Herzog’s ‘War in the Mediterranean’ (Krieg Im Mittelmeer), analyses the immigration policy of the EU after 1998, and shows how dozens of detention camps were built by the European community in North African countries.
In the documentary, Colonel Francesco Saverio Manozzi can be heard explaining to the Italian refugee council how certain EU member states operate different tactics on the high seas when they encounter migrants.
German forces in particular operate on tough lines, the police chief admits.
“There are different viewpoints in the European community. In Italy we have an approach based on the rule of law. Human life is safeguarded before sending anyone back home. Other countries use the term ‘diversion’, which means to force someone to go back home,” Manozzi says.
Diversion is the tactic allegedly used by member states which, Manozzi says, proceed with an iron fist in diverting migrants back to African coasts.
“We have been privy to official encounters and also read testimonies on paper, where it is agreed to fight irregular immigration by alighting on the boats and removing food provisions and fuel. At which point, the immigrant continues in those conditions… or else turns back,” Manozzi says – adding that the practice has been especially employed by German units.
Manozzi’s admission throws light on reasons cited by Frontex, the EU’s border agency, for delays in the commencement of Nautilus III, which the agency alluded to “divergence of opinion” on who should be responsible for migrants saved at sea.
Nautilus III, in the central Mediterranean, is currently under way and is expected to run until the end of October, the longest to be coordinated by Frontex. At present only Maltese and Italian assets are deployed in the area, because no assets from Germany and France were deployed for the mission.
In the documentary, Manozzi’s parting shot to filmmaker Herzog is: “There is no direct information on what happens on the high seas, and there will never be,” the police chief says, confirming the lack of information available as to how different member states operate on the high seas.

No denial
But even Frontex director Ilkka Laitenen does not deny the practice, saying each member state interprets the law as it sees fit when it comes to border control.
“If there are any means of how to turn those people who are entering illegally, to go back home, that will be done. The individual EU members interpret the law differently. I don’t say it is illegal. They just interpret it differently.”
When asked about the difference in the tactics employed between various member states, Laitenen says: “Other member states have the order not to practice this modus operandi in any form, but we have tried to harmonise the modi operandi as much as possible.”
The Frontex director in fact says the agency prepares an operational plan, but that single operations are the sole responsibility of each participant member state, and their unit captains, to take decisions. “In the most frequent of cases, these instructions are written in the operational plan and are checked against the existing legal basis so we ensure they are according to the law.”
Without denying tactics employed by German units, Laitenen confirms the practice in a roundabout manner: “I know of cases in international waters where saving lives is the principal aim. The way of doing this is to ensure a safe return back to the port of departure. To this end we go aboard the boats to confirm there are lifejackets, food and water, and enough fuel to turn back, and we explain what the safest way is to solve the problem.”

Frontex’s role
As the EU’s border agency, Frontex has no executive power – which is why at the end of the day it is up to each individual member state to take its own decisions on how to prevent the possible entry of migrants without documentation.
Frontex’s role is that of coordinating between member states in securing the EU’s external borders, and the pooling of military assets to intercept migrants and potential asylum seekers in the Mediterranean.
On paper, Frontex has a list of military assets available for deployment from various EU member states, including airplanes, helicopters and over 100 boats.
But this system, called CRATE (Centralised Record of Available Technical Equipment) is simply a record to help Frontex know what could be available in future missions. In Illka Laitenen’s words, it’s like “an e-shop… Frontex doesn’t have any vessels itself and cannot afford deployment of a big number of units to a chosen region.”
The assets belong to the member states, which must be paid for the deployment of the assets, and because of Frontex’s limited budget can only be deployed bit by bit over a period of time. According to Laitenen, “if we deployed the equipment from CRATE at once, the budget of Frontex would evaporate in two weeks’ time.”
Frontex maintains it is not a search and rescue operation, but an agency that patrols the high seas to limit the need for SAR operations: namely to discourage and divert the crossing of migrants.
By Laitenen’s own admission, “Frontex is not and never will be a panacea to problems of illegal migration… Maybe our activities in the Mediterranean do not seem sufficient for some people but we have to act in accordance with the legal mandate we have…”

mvella@mediatoday.com.mt