As of Friday (25th November), the situation of the 450 or so immigrants who were towed into Palaiochora harbour on Tuesday aboard a rusty and unseaworthy trawler was continuing to pose problems for the local authorities. By Wednesday the weather had deteriorated to the point where those remaining on the trawler were obliged to abandon it and were transferred to the Samaria ferry in the tourist harbour along with the rest of their fellow passengers. However, conditions there were far from ideal, there being a lack of covered space on the ferry, which is used for tourism purposes in the summer, so that many immigrants were getting soaked in the heavy rain.
By Wednesday UNHCR had provided blankets, sleeping bags and 10 tents – the latter being erected on the quay to provide some additional shelter – and arranged the provision of daily meals for 490 people with a company in Rethymnon. However, the priority was clearly to remove the immigrants from the hostile conditions of the harbour, and to proceed with the object of getting them off the island. By this point the unrealistic demands of some of the migrants that their boat be repaired and they be allowed to continue on to Italy, seem to have been forgotten.
Interviewed by Haniotika Nea on Thursday at Palaiochora, both the Deputy Regional Governor for Chania Nikos Kalogeris and the mayor of Kandanos Selino Antonis Perrakis criticised the lack of any integrated plan for dealing with such occurrences. Mr Perrakis said: “There needs to be coordination at the levels of central government, the Cretan Regional Authority and of course the municipalities, with an organisation chart of how to react in such situations. This time it was fortunate that the ship [i.e. the Samaria] was here, because if it had not been here there is no space which would have been able to house these people.”
Appeals to Brussels
Already on Tuesday 22nd November, the minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi had addressed an open letter to the European Commission’s vice-president Margaritis Schinas and the Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johanssen, requesting the Commission’s help in relocating the refugees. After outlining the details of the rescue operation and noting that the refugees were all safe in port, the minister went on to say:
“Greece has repeatedly drawn attention to the new modus operandi of migrant smugglers employing larger vessels and trying to cross to Europe and has stressed the point that we need to collectively act in order to prevent this type of trafficking activity that puts the lives of migrants at risk.
“First reception countries cannot be expected to shoulder an ever-increasing burden out of proportion to their respective capacities. Europe must prove that it is in a position to provide immediate and tangible solidarity, in far speedier timeframes and in higher numbers than the ones we have witnessed thus far.
“In light of the above, we ask the Commission to immediately undertake and coordinate a relocation initiative in response to this SAR operation, ensuring the responsibility, in saving lives at sea, is fairly shared among Member States.”
The letter seems to have had an impact, since additional funding of 1.9 billion euros to support Greece in handling the immigrant issue was announced by vice-president Margaritis Schinas following a meeting with Mr Mitarachi in Brussels on Thursday, the day before an extraordinary meeting of the EU’s Council of Justice and Home Affairs.
On Friday Mr Mitarachi pursued his case at the meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs, at which EU Interior ministers were due to discuss an Action Plan for the Central Mediterranean put forward by the European Commission. Addressing journalists before the meeting he said: “We have been talking for far too long about a European solution to the migration crisis. It is time for solutions, actions and results. The proposal from the Commission today is clearly on the right path. We need to find a solution for the central Mediterranean route, but we also need to ensure that the EU-Turkey joint statement of 2016 is implemented by all parties.
“In the past few years we have been talking disproportionately about the responsibilities of first line/front line states. We also need to talk about solutions to reduce the number of irregular arrivals to the European Union and for providing a mandatory solidarity mechanism so that all member states in Europe share the burden of migration in an equal way. It is not a time to fly solo, it’s time for a European solution, and I am confident that it will be a good meeting today.”
Traffickers identified and charged
In the meantime the Coastguard in Palaiochora, aided by Europol, had conducted a definitive count of the migrants and had also identified 7 Egyptians as crew members of the trawler. There were 336 men, 10 women, 128 under-age boys and 9 under-age girls on board, mainly Syrian and Egyptian with some Pakistanis, Sudanese and the Palestinians. According to the Coastguard, the passengers had each paid 3,000 to 4,000 euros to be transported to Italy. The 7 crew members were arrested and charged with the crimes of forming a gang, illegal immigration and putting human lives in danger. They were due to make an initial appearance before the court in Chania on Monday 28th November.
On Friday 25th November, more than 10 tons of fuel were pumped from the trawler for fear of pollution, while over the weekend the immigrants were taken in three groups to Souda. There they boarded the ferry for Piraeus with destination a Reception Centre near Athens, where the process of registration will be completed and those who wish to will be able to apply for asylum.