Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/705249
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 20 JULY 2016 News Malta-based EASO to become official agency, increase workforce to 500 MARTINA BORG CHANGES in the Common Eu- ropean Asylum System and the member states' handling of the current migration crisis will see a centralization of relocation and returns policies, as well as responsibilities of borders, a del- egation of the European Parlia- ment's Committee on Civil Lib- erties, Justice and Home Affairs told a press conference yesterday. The delegation, consisting of MEP Cecile Kashetu Kyenge, MEP Helga Stevens, MEP Carlos Coelho and Maltese MEP Miri- am Dalli joined EASO executive director Jose Carreira to visit the European Asylum Support Of- fice (EASO) in Malta. Carreira explained that over the last year, Europe and the EU have faced extraordinary chal- lenges to migration and asylum, with unprecedented numbers of refugees making it into member states. "The proposed new EASO reg- ulation will effectively convert EASO into an official EU agency, meaning that it will have further operational capacities," Carreira said, explaining that the work- force of the agency would rise from 100 to 500 people. "This will allow us to assist member states, and to deploy more professionals to hotspots in Greece and Italy among others, to better process asylum appli- cations," Carreira said, pointing out that Frontex estimates placed illegal border crossing estimates to up to two million in 2015, with some 1.5 million applying for asylum during the same year. He added that 2016 had already seen some half a million applications by the end of May. "The stock of unprocessed ap- plications is still close to one mil- lion, but the f lows of migrants from Turkey has decreased," he said, adding that EASO had been actively targeting refugees stranded in Greece to provide applications. Carreira also pointed out that the new act would see the agency's distribution capacity increase considerably, with ad- ditionally focused training pro- grammes given to employees. The head of delegation, MEP Cecile Kashetu Kyenge, noted that Malta would soon become an important enforcer of the work carried out by EASO, as it took presidency of the EU Coun- cil. She explained that those pre- sent hailed from different par- ties, but added that the Europe- an Parliament is going through a series of necessary reforms in its attitude to migration and in the functions of EASO. "The principle of solidarity and of equal division of responsibil- ity is at the heart of these re- forms," she said. The point was also taken up by MEP Miriam Dalli who stressed that solidar- ity would continue to underlie discussions of the crisis, but that it should be the natural response for all member states rather than just frontline countries. "Until we have a proper, ho- listic migration policy, we will continue to witness deaths, but the international community also has a role to play in this," she said, adding that the impetus ought to be to save lives both in the countries in question and of migrants. Dalli pointed out that solidarity ought to govern all discussions of relocation and re- turns policies, focusing on pro- viding humanitarian ways for people to make it into European countries and to be sent back in case they do not qualif y for pro- tection. Kyenge also pointed out that among the other proposed changes, were changes to the Dublin III agreement, to create a centralised system rather than propagate the idea of first arrival points and national responsibil- ity of these countries. "The responsibility has to lie on all the 28 member states," she said, adding that relocation pro- grammes ought to be respected and seen through even though progress was slow. She further explained that the European commission would al- so be issuing a policy document for integration, rather than just focusing on receiving refugees. MEP Carlos Coelho stressed that the crisis being faced re- quired a coherent European voice and that the new regula- tions would ensure an agency with more competences and hu- man and operational capabili- ties. "We already have free move- ment and common justice, as well as a common response to terrorism and organized crime," he said, stressing that that was the reasoning behind a common European Asylum system. MEP Helga Stevens pointed out the importance of drawing a dis- tinction between economic refu- gees and refugees f leeing war and conf lict. "We must be discerning about the economic migrants we allow to enter the EU," she said, add- ing that social benefit systems should not be an incentive for people to leave their countries. She further emphasised the need to deal with problems at their root and eliminate push factors causing people to leave the country. She stressed that in the short term, the EU could establish agreements similar to the one in place with Turkey in countries like Libya, Tunisia and Algeria among others. LIBE committee delegation addresses the press about changes to EASO and the Common European Asylum System Teenager killed in Kappara traffic accident Young girl loses her life in a traffic accident on Tuesday morning while her brother and another passenger were taken to hospital, the former unharmed and the latter having sustained grievous injuries 17-YEAR-OLD Tara Licari lost her life in a tragic traffic accident early yesterday morning in Mikiel Anton Vassalli Street in Kappara. Preliminary police investiga- tions of the scene of the accident showed her brother was driving his Toyota Vitz towards Sliema from St Julian's at around 5am, when the 23-year-old driver lost control and collided, most prob- ably first with a wall, then subse- quently with another car. A Danish 18-year-old passenger was grievously injured in the ac- cident. A medical team was called for assistance and the young Dan- ish man and the driver were taken to Mater Dei hospital for treat- ment, despite the driver being un- harmed. Licari was pronounced dead from her injuries on site. Duty magistrate Donatella Fren- do Dimech was informed of the case and she appointed several ex- perts to help in the investigation. Police investigations are on- going. Several people have taken to the internet to express their sad- ness at the news of Tara's passing. Many have offered their condo- lences to her family, while others call for more road safety. Others went as far as to speculate wheth- er alcohol was involved in the ac- cident and called for justice to be sought.