Van maritimewatch.eu
http://www.politico.eu/article/european-union-fleet-of-drones-to-track-migrants-refugees/
EU plans drone fleet to track migrants
Countries are divided over who would control the remotely piloted aircraft.
By Justin Stares 4/6/16 POLITICO newsletters
Drones controlled by the EU will soon be flying across the continent
under a European Commission plan to keep track of migrants arriving on
Mediterranean shores.
The Commission says it needs its own fleet of remotely piloted aircraft
systems to spot small refugee boats, as well as to enforce emissions
standards and monitor ship safety elsewhere in Europe.
Advanced discussions in the Council of Ministers have centered on a
request for an annual budget of €22 million to help set up the EU fleet.
The plan is to fit drones with video, infrared sensors and chemical
“sniffers” for detecting ships that pollute, according to a Commission
official.
Europe’s existing satellite and transponder-based technology is useless
for tracking the flood of refugees crossing the Mediterranean, said
Christine Berg, head of unit in the Commission’s directorate-general for
mobility and transport.
Satellite images can take minutes or hours to update, making the
technology too slow. Commercial vessels are fitted with transponders,
but the smaller, makeshift craft favored by migrants and asylum-seekers
and the people-smugglers who often transport them are not. Europe’s
drone-mounted cameras will monitor migrant movement during daylight
hours, while infrared sensors will help track them at night, Berg told
an industry gathering in Brussels.
Pilots will be located in Lisbon, at the European Maritime Safety Agency
(EMSA), according to the Commission plan — though a number of EU
countries are not happy with the details.
Negotiating documents show Germany believes it is “highly doubtful” that
EMSA is the right body to operate the fleet because the agency has until
now focused on ship safety, not migration. Germany is pushing for the
fleet to be headed by EU border agency Frontex.
Berlin is also unconvinced by the proposed budget. The usefulness of
drones “is in no way proportionate to the expected additional budgetary
resources and posts,” German diplomats said during Council talks.
While there has been no outright government opposition to the creation
of an EU drone fleet, there have been concerns, in Malta in particular,
that the Commission is seeking to use Europe’s migrant crisis as an
excuse for pushing ahead with the creation of an EU coast guard, a
longstanding dream of European federalists.
Malta pointed out that the legislative proposals refer not only to
drones but also to maritime safety, security, search and rescue, border
control, fisheries control, customs, general law enforcement and
environmental protection — meaning Brussels regulators will be given
powers to meddle in all “coast guard functions.”
The proposal would give the Commission “unlimited discretion” to adopt
recommendations that “may prove to be quasi-binding,” according to a
summary of Malta’s position recorded in a Council document.
After encouragement from the European Parliament, the Commission agreed
a decade ago in principle to the creation of a European coast guard. In
practice, however, progress towards this goal has been slow because
coast guard functions vary considerably from country to country.
With the EU institutions ostensibly practicing austerity and cutting
administrative budgets, drones are one of the few growth areas in
Brussels. The proposal has therefore created excitement among Commission
officials, who see the fleet as a path to promotion.
The planned upgrade of EMSA is taking place in parallel to an upgrade of
both the European Fisheries Control Agency and Frontex – all triggered
by the migration crisis. The three agencies are supposed to cooperate
closely, though there is no plan to merge them.
Confusingly, the Commission would like to enhance EMSA’s Europe-wide
coast guard capacity while at the same time renaming Frontex the
“European Border and Coast Guard Agency.” This renaming exercise has
also met with opposition from a number of EU governments who believe the
name Frontex is sufficient, and should stay.
Justin Stares is editor of maritimewatch.eu.
--
All Included
Plantage Doklaan 12
1018 CM Amsterdam
tel. +31 20 3795236
http://www.allincluded.nl/
https://twitter.com/migrantenwelkom
Home »
» EU plans drone fleet to track migrants