B2 The Daily of Geopolitical Europe. News. Files. Reflections. Reports

News BlogBorders Immigration AsylumMediterranean sea

Look no further for the European Crossmed. Go through Poissy! (shift)

rescue of the survivors by the Italian Coast Guards on October 4 (credit: Guardia Costiera - Italian Coast Guards)
rescue of the survivors by the Italian Coast Guards on October 4 (credit: Guardia Costiera - Italian Coast Guards)

(BRUXELLES2) To trigger a rescue operation in the Mediterranean, go through your police station! Thirty or so illegal immigrants were saved from drowning in the Mediterranean, thanks to a phone call made by the police station... in Poissy (Yvelines)! The police officer on duty had the right reflex, in a story that is barely believable. NB: for those who don't know where Poissy is, it's in the Parisian suburbs, really far from the sea... and even from any maritime tradition!

A night at the Poissy police station

For the record, as our colleagues from the Le Parisien, it all started "on Saturday (November 9) a little before midnight when a 33-year-old Iraqi Kurd showed up at the police station accompanied by a woman who played the interpreter. He explained that he had received, ten minutes earlier, a blow phone call from his brother Rekan. The latter is calling for help because he is, in the company of thirty comrades in misfortune, on a sinking boat. This could seem like a hoax. But the duty agent takes the matter in hand. serious. The man seems credible...

B2 reconstructed the chain of calls that occurred. It is worth the detour...

The telephone line is on

The Poissy police station calls its central, the CIC (information and command center) located at DDSP 78, in Versailles. The SDIS firefighters are put in the loop. Everything is transferred back to COGIC, the interministerial crisis center, in Asnières, which alerts CROSS MED in Toulon. The request is clear = "boat threatening to sink in the Mediterranean". Supposed number of refugees on board = 26 people including Kurds, Syrians, Afghans.

The CROSS take over!

The CROSS MED permanent staff at La Garde (Toulon) - the regional operational center for surveillance and rescue in the Mediterranean - are used to this type of call. But usually it's off the French coast. For international affairs, it is the CROSS of Gris-Nez (in the Pas-de-Calais) which has the upper hand. This is what is called in maritime jargon a SPOC = search and rescue point of contact.

Italians scouting

The Gris-Nez CROSS called its Italian colleague, the MRCC (Maritime rescue coordination centre) in Rome. The important thing here is to locate the boat. According to information gathered by the police, the boat left Greece (Athens) for Italy. A satellite search - thanks to the Sarsat system - of the telephone number. Negative result! The number is not in the Italian zone. but in the Greek "rescue zone": in the open Ionian Sea off the coast of Kefalonia / Kefalonia, between Italy and Greece. Rome then transmits to the MRCC of Piraeus.

Greeks at work

The Greek center quickly launches a helicopter and asks a ship to head for the place. Some time later, the good news will reach the center. The boat was spotted by the helicopter of the Greek Armed Forces and the patrol boat of the Greek Coast Guard (and not Italian as mistakenly mentioned in the press) brings the boat and its 26 occupants back to Kefalonia. " Everyone is healthy says the note. It was time ! “The boat was starting to take on water”

The information chain worked well

The whole chain of information took less than an hour. As an officer familiar with these procedures explains. " Ieople have reflexes. In the various MRCCs, we often receive foreign colleagues. Everyone talks to each other, on the phone, by email. It's a daily cooperation "In the result, what matters is that" The information arrived in time as close as possible to the center. The information was taken seriously. And it all happened in a few tens of minutes. »

Comments: European coordination?

The rescue chain worked well. Thanks to the capacity for responsiveness from one end of the chain to the other. This story thus contrasts with the drama of early October, between Lampedusa and Malta, and the multiple desperate calls from migrants before sinking (read: Off Lampedusa, on October 11, did Europe let 268 Syrians die?). It also shows the need to raise everyone's awareness...

A system of solidarity

Not everything can depend on the coastal countries either. The reinforcement of rescue resources by the Italian Navy since the launch of the operation Mare Nostrum in mid-October only has one time. It will be necessary for a moment to think about a system of solidarity, financial and operational. All of Europe is concerned. In the depths of Scotland or Poland, the problem may arise tomorrow as it has arisen in the suburbs of Paris.

To raise awareness ...

During the European Commission's midday briefing on Thursday, we asked if there was any room for change. The spokesperson for the Home Affairs Commissioner was more than cautious. "We have always said that Member States must respect their obligations in terms of rescue at sea and assistance in their "Search and Rescue" zones. he explains. As for drawing up a recommendation to make all member countries, police and navy forces and private ships aware of the rescue at sea of ​​migrants and refugees in search of a land of asylum, there is no question of it, at least for the moment. " It's not our intention he replied. Would it not be in Europe's interest to reiterate a few values ​​and principles, firmly and precisely, as it did for piracy in 2010 by issuing a recommendation on self-protection measures for ships against pirates in Somalia (read: The Commission publishes a recommendation "Maritime piracy"). The question is asked

Switch to 2.0 sea rescue?

Finally, we must also ask ourselves the question of means. Drawing inspiration from the devices put in place at the Northwood anti-piracy HQ would not be useless. It has, in fact, a secure "chat", says Mercury, allowing each of the ships and headquarters to be in real time on the same communication channel (read: Visit to EU anti-piracy HQ (Atalanta) in Northwood). Moving to 2.0 rescue operations would not be useless. Probably more than the establishment of a body of European coastguards, a solution often mentioned in political debates but never realized. And for good reason, according to professionals, this old "sea serpent" would be very expensive, for a very limited operational impact.

(Paper restructured Fri. 15 morning, with details on the rescue chain at European level, and a more detailed commentary)

Read also:

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

s2Member®