Italy formally ends its search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean on Saturday amid fears that its EU-led replacement will lead to the deaths of thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe.
Pushing a task up from a national body to a supra-national one is always such a guarantee of increased efficiency in its performance, isn’t it?
As I understand it, the replacement mission has a different scope and won’t attempt so much on the search and rescue front. So not really an efficiency thing.
Pushing a task up from a national body to a supra-national one is always such a guarantee of increased efficiency in its performance, isn’t it?
Yet again the Italians are begging for the rest of Europe to save them from their own incompetence. They will probably get it too. What they mean is that they cannot do the job and so they want the Germans to do it for them.
So it may mean more efficiency.
But the problem remains – as Australia has proven, as long as there is a chance of citizenship people will get on boats and some of them will die. The only way to end the deaths is to make it clear that no one arriving illegally by boat will end up in Europe.
Tim. Why are you still on BST when the rest of us have switched to GMT?
Well, because where I am, in the Czech Republic, it’s one hour forward from the UK.
Tim Worstall – “Well, because where I am, in the Czech Republic, it’s one hour forward from the UK.”
I am amazed no one has got around to harmonising that yet. So perhaps it is best to keep it quiet in case they force Britain to adopt the same Day Light Savings hours as everyone else?
SMFS: I am amazed no one has got around to harmonising that yet.
I believe that our neighbours to the north are the reason we’re an hour behind central European time and surely no one looks for harmony from that source?
The EU replacement operation WILL lead to the deaths of thousands of immigrants. That’s because as SMFS says it, where there’s a chance of a new life, even if it’s very risky, people will try it. Hell, the rescue operations make it more dangerous because it increases the numbers of those attempting it and they will be doing it in less sea worthy vessels because they believe they will be “rescued” in time. It’s the usual progressive/liberal attitude that something must be done, when in reality the something done actually makes the situation worse. If instead they kept the rescues to the minimum, the risk factor would be too great even for the economic migrants to try and lives would not be lost.
It’s been attempted, several times. It was even trialled in the 70s.
And more recently, every now and again some federast jumps up and demands that we ‘harmonise’ our clocks with the Frogs and Krauts: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16649868 (but dressing it up as though it would eliminate road deaths and save the planet from boiling)
I’m not at all clear why any European nation or Europe as a whole has any obligation to search for and rescue these people seeking to illegally immigrate into European countries.
Surely the solution with a minimum of deaths is to continue to do the S&R bit, along with some fairly effective border control, and then ensure that every single illegal immigrant who attempts to get in this way ends up back on the other side of the med.
If the chances of drowning are only modest, but the chances of getting unto Europe are basically nill, surely that will ultimately slow down the number of attempts.
@IanB – Because the alternative, based on previous experience, is that in the absence of “search and rescue” operations hundreds of people will die.
This is not an outcome which I view with equanimity, though I freely admit I have no answers and I’m not surprised that Italy wants to share the problem with others who are affected.
SMFS is right: The only way to end the deaths is to make it clear that no one arriving illegally by boat will end up in Europe.
But since the EU elite wants immigration in order to break down Europe’s nation states, that’s not going to happen. Obama is using the same flooding technique in the US.
In what sense is an increase in the hazards of illegally entering Europe a decrease in efficiency?