MaltaToday - After Budafel and Monfalco, Spain calls for tougher EU regulations on rescue at sea
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NEWS | Wednesday, 12 December 2007

After Budafel and Monfalco, Spain calls for tougher EU regulations on rescue at sea

Spain has requested the European Council of Ministers to adopt new, tougher regulations on rescue at sea, in a move which echoes the country’s frustrations after the “Monfalco” incident last May – when Malta refused to take responsibility for a group of 26 migrants from the Ivory Coast, rescued by a Spanish fishing trawler outside its own search and rescue (SAR) region.
The plea was made at the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy (TTE) council meeting in Brussels last month, where the Spanish delegations presented a document under the heading “Rescue at Sea”.
“The government of Spain contemplates with great concern the phenomenon of irregular immigration by sea in precarious crafts…” begins the six-page paper. “The concern has increased in the light of the circumstances in which various recent incidents relating to maritime rescue have taken place, involving vessels flying a European Union flag and various ports and governments of coastal states.”
Although the statement studiously avoids any direct reference to Malta, the allusion to “various recent incidents” is strongly reminiscent of the Monfalco and Budafel cases, both of which took place in the same week, and provoked intense diplomatic wrangles with Spain and Italy respectively.
The latter case catapulted Malta to international notoriety, after the Independent (UK) printed a front page photo-story of 27 African migrants desperately clinging to the netting of a Maltese-owned tuna pen as it was towed by the tug Budafel – part of the Azzopardi Fisheries fleet – under the heading “Europe’s Shame”.
As in the case of the Monfalco, Maltese authorities vehemently denied responsibility for the castaways in the Budafel case, arguing once again that the rescue had taken place outside Malta’s maritime jurisdiction.
Significantly, the Spanish proposal addresses the issue of legal “loopholes” by calling for a harmonisation of rescue procedures among all member States: “In this way, it may be possible to close the loopholes which exist on this subject, as well as to specify certain general principles which currently allow member States… an unduly large degree of discretion.”
The statement also calls for punitive measures against member states which refuse to co-operate: “This legislative regulation, since it deals with necessary law, would reinforce the obligations of search, rescue and disembarkation by means of the application, if appropriate, of sanctions against those who do not comply with it.”
If any doubt remained about the intended target of these suggestions, the specific suggestions appear to be tailor-made to address all the objections raised by the Maltese government in the face of worldwide criticism of its handling of the two rescue operations last May.
Spain’s proposals include: “The establishment of the obligation for all vessels flying an EU flag, to rescue those persons who are in danger at sea, irrespective of whether or not they are in waters belonging to the jurisdiction of the European Union State or in the SAR areas.”
In both the Budafel and Monfalco incidents, Malta insisted that responsibility for their rescue should fall to Libyan authorities, as the migrants had been rescued in Libya’s SAR.
“… The creation of compensation mechanism for vessels which have been economically affected as a consequence of the rescue of castaways at sea so that the fact of having carried out the said operation does not cause them any detriment.”
This appears to be a direct response to the captain of the Budafel tugboat, who according to the Independent (UK) had refused to land the migrants “because he had $1m-worth of tuna in the pen. If he had taken them to Malta, the trip would have taken 12 days, given the tug’s slow speed…. ‘I couldn’t take the risk of losing this catch,’ he said.”
Spain has also requested sanctions against individual vessels which “in an unjustified manner” ignore distress calls from such craft.
Although the proposals were made on 29 November, Malta’s official position on the issue is still unclear two weeks later. Contacted by MaltaToday, a spokesman for the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry claimed that the matter does not fall within the ministry’s competence. Meanwhile, repeated attempts to contact Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Frendo yesterday proved futile.

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt

@ Tuna pen incident
www.maltatoday.com.mt/2007/05/27/t2.html


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