Statement
At its Executive Committee meeting in Brussels on 20-21 May 2015, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) adopted a resolution calling on the European Council to take up its responsibility in the Mediterranean migration and asylum crisis. The ETF Executive Committee is of the opinion that the solution proposed by the EU is far away from the concept of European solidarity and calls for:
- The restoration of EU-funded search-and-rescue operations similar to the Mare Nostrum programme;
- To increase effort to ensure suitable living conditions of asylum-seekers and refugees;
- To comply with the UN Geneva Convention and to establish safe, legal routes for those who flee war and prosecution, and to increase the number of recognition of refugee status;
- The suspension of the Dublin convention according to which the EU country of arrival is responsible for processing the asylum claims of applicants, placing an unfair strain on countries involved in the rescue operations, in this case Italy, Greece, Malta, Spain, and Cyprus;
- To establish legal channels of migration and to support regularisation of undocumented migrants;
- To support ethical recruitment and retention of migrant workers in the public sectors;
- To carry out ex-ante social, economic and humanitarian impact assessments of EU external interventions.
You can download the full text of the resolution below.
