Brussels seeks Washington’s help on refugees

Europe wants military cooperation in the Med and diplomatic pressure on Gulf states.

The European Commission has sent Washington a wish list of ways the U.S. could provide help in dealing with the migration crisis, including boosting cooperation with American military forces in the Mediterranean.

An internal document prepared by Commission staff spells out areas where the EU thinks the U.S. can help it get control the flow of refugees from the Middle East to Europe. The draft proposals include efforts to stop people-smuggling in the Mediterranean, a call for Washington to put diplomatic pressure on Gulf countries to do “significantly” more to resettle Syrian refugees, and a request that the U.S. itself taken in more asylum-seekers.

The request was sent to Washington last month, according to one EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. has signaled it is ready to help the EU deal with the migration crisis — and as the issue has taken on new urgency with security concerns rising in the wake of the Paris attacks.

EU leaders, including Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, have said the refugee crisis needs a global solution.

If the proposals are agreed, the EU and U.S. would establish an “effective liaison” between Eunavfor Med, the bloc’s newly launched mission to stop people smugglers, and the U.S. Sixth Fleet, which is also deployed in the Mediterranean.

The goal, according to the working document, is to “exchange relevant operational and tactical information.”

In recent months EU officials have been holding preliminary discussions with U.S. diplomats on how such cooperation could work, a source close the talks said.

Practical ways to work together have already been discussed with the U.S. ambassador to the EU, Anthony Gardner, said another EU official.

The document, obtained by POLITICO and first reported on by the Italian daily La Stampa, emerged as the U.S. steps up its diplomatic involvement in Europe’s migration crisis. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday attended a summit of southeast European leaders in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, that focused on tensions and security concerns over the flow of refugees and migrants crossing the region.

That flow shows no signs of abating. As many as 5,000 asylum-seekers and migrants will reach Greece each day from Turkey between November 2015 and February 2016, according to UNCHR, the U.N. Refugee agency.

 ‘Complementary support’

The Commission’s proposals, under the headline “Potential areas of U.S. political and operational support on international migration and refugee crisis,” are part of ongoing work between administrations in Washington and Brussels and are not yet part of an official document, EU sources said.

The European suggestions are mainly divided in two areas: political and operational support, with requests addressed to both the U.S. Departments of State and Defense.

Brussels is considering asking for Washington’s support across the geographical spectrum of the refugee crisis: from the Western Balkan route refugees take when they cross from Turkey into Greece and then head north towards Germany and Sweden; to the Syrian conflict asylum-seekers are fleeing; and also the coast of Libya, from where many migrants leave to reach Sicily.

The Greek-Turkish border has become even more relevant after the Paris attacks. Greece’s deputy prime minister for citizen protection, Nikos Toskas, confirmed on Monday that two of the suspects involved in the attacks passed through the Greek island of Leros as Syrian refugees in October.

Also included among the “the key priorities” listed in the Commission’s working document is a request for the U.S. to provide “capacity-building (training, technical equipment) for transit countries, notably in Western Balkans, for border management and processing of migrants.”

The document also includes request for the U.S. State Department to “increase the number of Syrian refugees to be resettled among the U.S. global refugee quota in 2016 and 2017.”

But this call has already been fulfilled as part of the ongoing talks between the two capitals, the source close to the talks said. In September U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington will resettle at least 85,000 refugees in fiscal 2016, which began October 1, including a minimum of 10,000 Syrians.

The issue has proven controversial with the American public as the governors of several U.S. states have said they will not accept any Syrian refugees.

On Sunday Brussels will host a meeting between the leaders of the EU’s 28 countries and the prime minister of Turkey, at which a joint action plan to stem the flow of refugees is expected to be agreed upon.

The Commission, according to the working document, is considering asking the U.S. to provide “complementary support to the priorities agreed in the EU-Turkey Action Plan on migration and refugee crisis, including on humanitarian assistance and strengthening of migration management strategy and system.”

The EU could also ask for the U.S. to “provide needs-based humanitarian assistance and protection for all affected civilians” in Iraq. Last month about 26,000 Iraqis asked for asylum in Europe, making them the third-largest group of applicants after Syrians and Afghans, according to EASO, the EU asylum office.

To deal with the situation in Libya, where the U.N. is trying to foster a political agreement between the two capitals that have been running the county after the 2011 Western military intervention, the EU asks Washington to share “relevant U.S. intelligence information on smuggler business model/networks and the situation on the Libyan coast.”

It also calls for “U.S. direct or indirect support to Libya,” for example “through U.S. programs in support of the Coast Guard in Libya” as well as through “border management” and “management of irregular migration through and from Libya.”

The document also includes a similar request involving NATO member Turkey, calling on Washington to provide support to strengthen “the interception capacity of the Turkish Coast guard” and the “capacity of Turkey to combat migrant smuggling.”