Remarks of the High Representative Federica Mogherini at the EUNAVFOR MED's Operational Headquarter in Rome, September 24, 2015

It was a pleasure for me to be here today. It was also a top priority to visit the headquarters of this operation that we launched in record time last spring and summer. In spring, we started to work on our common European reaction to fight the smugglers and traffickers of people in the context of the management of migration flows and of the refugee crisis. It is an integral part of a much broader strategy that lies at the heart of our European work. The European Commission, alongside all the European Institutions, has been working on this European reply day and night. Indeed, we had a European Council just yesterday night-. This naval operation is a very important piece of the puzzle and of our way to face this challenge. It is not only a European challenge; it is also - mainly, in fact - a regional and global challenge.

From the very beginning, fighting the networks of smugglers and traffickers networks has been identified as a key component of this [strategy]. First of all to save and protect lives. People dying in the Mediterranean needed to be protected, not only immediately through our search and rescue operations, but also at the source. The operation was established on the 18th May, was launched on the 22nd June - less than one month later - and reached Full Operational Capability on the 27th July. So, from 27th July until now we have saved, only with this operation, 2,186 people out of which 472 were women, 114 children and 4 babies. You might remember that one of these babies was born actually on one of the ships that is participating in the operation, and was named after the ship, Sophia. I will suggest to Member States that we change the name of our Operation: instead of calling it EUNAVFOR MED, I suggest we use the very same name: Sophia. To honor the lives of the people we are saving, the lives of people we want to protect, and to pass the message to the world that fighting the smugglers and the criminal networks is a way of protecting human life.

Let me give you some numbers: 22 Member States are involved in the operation: Italy, UK, Spain, Germany, Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. We have 1,318 people working for the operation and a total of 4 ships deployed at this moment. Following our activities, 15 suspected smugglers and traffickers have been arrested by the Italian authorities and the number of boats that have been seized is also 15. On top of that, there have been 20 cases where suspected smugglers and traffickers have been sighted on the high seas. These took place in the Central Mediterranean route, a route which is these days overshadowed by the dramatic numbers of refugees and migrants coming through the Eastern Mediterranean route and from the Western Balkans. However, it remains an important route, and moreover, the most deadly one, with 2.2% of people dying on this route while on the other route it is 0.06%. This means that our operation at sea is also focused on decreasing the number of people dying and preventing one of the most dangerous journeys migrants can take.

This year, of the 121,725 people attempting the journey 2,620 have died so far. The composition of the flow is mixed: we tend to think that the people coming through this corridor are mainly economic migrants. This is the case, but still we have a significant number of Eritreans and Syrians which makes the flow indeed very mixed: migrants and asylum seekers together.

Together with the Operation Commander[Admiral Credendino], we decided to organise this visit today because I thought it was important to show that this part of our strategy is up and running, it’s operational, it’s producing results, and it’s something on which Europe is united, not only in decision making but also in operational terms. I mentioned the willingness of countries that are contributing to it and the complete unanimity over the need to continue with this operation , as well as the willingness to contribute from Member States. Because we are now in a phase that is crucial: we have, as we have announced already, fulfilled the objectives of phase 1, which are intelligence gathering and sharing, and we are ready to start phase 2 in the high seas. The Rules of Engagement approved yesterday by the EU Military Committee will have to be agreed by the Political and Security Committee on Monday. And we will be ready to be fully operational on phase 2 in the high seas by the 7th October, pending the agreement of the Political Security Committee on Monday. So we thought it would be useful for me to be briefed by our men and women working on the data that we have gathered through our intelligence and information sharing activities. Now that we have a complete picture of how, when and where the smugglers' organisations and networks are operating, we are ready to actively dismantle them. In phase 2 in the high seas, we will be able to board, search and seize vessels in international waters; suspected smugglers and traffickers will be transferred to the Italian judicial authorities. Let me also take this opportunity to thank the Operation Commander Admiral Credendino publicly for the excellent work done so far, as well as all staff that have been working here. I will stop here and be ready to answer your questions.