Extension for operation SOPHIA

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
09/12/18

It seems probable, on the part of the Italian Executive, the extension for the duration of 3 months (instead of 6 as requested by the European Union), despite the already known contrary opinion of the Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini, of the SOPHIA operation.

Opinion not shared by the Minister of Defense Elisabetta Trenta, who presented at the meeting convened by President Giuseppe Conte at Palazzo Chigi, a report with the costs for Italy in the event of closure of SOPHIA, estimated at 130-140 million euro l year, to carry out the tasks currently under the European operation alone.

Officially named European Union Naval Force Mediterranean, is a military operation of the European Union, born after the numerous shipwrecks of migrants, off the Libyan coast, in April 2015.

It should be remembered that the SOPHIA operation was born with the specific purpose of countering the illegal trafficking of migrants from the coasts of Libya, affecting the criminal organizations involved in this activity, and certainly not providing a ferry service between the two sides of the Mediterranean.

Despite the fact that, in three years, the boats of the smuggled or seized smugglers have been beyond 500, the European task force has not succeeded in blocking the smuggling of illegal immigrants.

Last summer the Italian government tried to involve the other countries participating in the operation in the landings question, asking, with decision, to review the rules of engagement. Italy's proposal focuses on the rotation of migrants' landing ports between different European countries, but the negotiations have run aground due to the firm opposition of France, Belgium, Croatia and Hungary.

From the beginning, the SOPHIA operation showed intrinsic limits. If the aim was to oppose the criminal groups responsible for the smuggling of migrants, the means put in place proved to be inadequate to say the least.

In recent years the issue of the fight against smugglers has produced results that are at least debatable, highlighting, if ever there was a need, the lack of knowledge of the issues related to the defense by our politicians and the press in general. It has come to talk about the use of UAVs (unmanned drones), to sink the boats of smugglers on the return route after having downloaded the migrants. Unfortunately, we forget that our UAVs (PREDATOR and REAPER) do not have armament and do not know when this will happen, given the delay in the programs implemented by the Executive in order to find resources to "abolish poverty".

At this time the recourse to the naval blockade appears impractical, as it would take a huge number of naval units to block the coast of Libya. Moreover, if a boat loaded with migrants arrives, due to the laws of navigation, it should be approached and transferred the human cargo to the warships so that it can arrive in Italy in maximum safety.

At this point it would be much less expensive to organize regular traffic, with ferries, which take migrants directly from the Libyan ports, in this way the business of smugglers would be eliminated and Italy and the European Union would save the mountain of money invested in SOPHIA operation.

In spite of political propaganda, it is clear that a country like Italy is not able to control, on its own, a phenomenon of such dimensions, like the current one of immigration.

From the point of view of capacity, Italy does not have sufficient means to achieve complete monitoring of traffic. The intelligence apparatus, present on the Libyan territory, is probably numerically inadequate and resource-poor, given the continuous cuts in the sector.

As for the air component, returning to talk about drones, the ones we have provided are excellent for surveillance on land but insufficient for the surveillance on the sea, because equipped with different sensors, unusable in this operating scenario.

Not to mention the P-72A maritime patrols, which are too small to control the interested body of water, just like the EH-101 helicopters.

The underlying truth is that Europe has left Italy alone to face the immigration emergency, so the only strategy that the Italian Executive can adopt is to put governments and the European Union in front of its responsibilities. A single plan must be established, surpassing the Dublin Treaty and providing aid for the control of the Libyan coasts, by all members of the Union, as the Mediterranean is a strategic area for the whole of Europe, from to preserve in order to guarantee the safety of commercial traffic and the safety of migrants.

(photo: EUNAVFOR MED OP. SOPHIA / web)