London: In order to reduce the number of migrants travelling across the Mediterranean and send them back to North Africa, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is negotiating a deal with Italy, according to the Telegraph.
Midway through June, the newspaper reported that Sunak had sent Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Simon Case to Italy for two days of negotiations with senior Italian government officials.
According to a government source quoted by the Telegraph, "if we are going to successfully tackle illegal migration, we have got to deal with the issue at source as well as focus on small boats."
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In April, the UK and Italy agreed to cooperate in fighting illegal immigration as part of the "Strategic Migration Partnership."
A UK government spokesperson stated, "We are cooperating closely with Italy and other European partners to stem illegal migration and tackle people-smuggling gangs that operate across borders."
This is a problem we all face. According to government statistics, 45,000 people crossed the Channel in small boats to Britain last year, mostly from France.
The government reports that over 11,000 have arrived so far this year. Stopping boat arrivals is one of Conservative Party leader Sunak's top five priorities.
Some members of his own party as well as the general public have criticised him for not acting quickly enough to stop irregular immigration.
In a related development, a European official stated that the EU's border agency is asking Greece's coast guard for "clarifications and information" regarding two alleged instances of migrants who entered the country by boat being forcibly returned to Turkey.
The representative for Greece on the Frontex management board was written to by Frontex's executive director Hans Leijtens, who requested a response by July 10.
The organisation assists in border patrol on Greece's eastern borders.
The number of Middle Eastern and African migrants travelling in small boats from Turkey to Greece has drastically decreased as a result of increased patrols in the eastern Aegean Sea by Greece's center-right government in recent years.
However, Athens has frequently been charged with "pushbacks," the illegal practise of returning migrants who enter Greek waters to Turkey's maritime jurisdiction without allowing them to request asylum. Similar allegations regarding Greece's handling of immigrants entering the country through Turkey's land border have been made. Greece rejects the charges and maintains that its immigration policies are "strict but fair."
Separately, Greece's coast guard has come under fire for how it handled the sinking of a trawler on June 14 that was transporting hundreds of migrants from Libya to Italy and left more than 500 people missing.
Given that they were not authorised to speak with the media about the situation, the European official who was aware of the Frontex communication spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
In the letter dated Thursday, it was claimed that two incidents occurred on April 11 and 22 off the coast of Lesbos, an island in the eastern Aegean that is a popular stopping point for migrants travelling by small boat from the Turkish coast.
The New York Times reported the first incident, which was based on a video that an activist provided. According to the report, a group of migrants who had arrived in Lesbos were forcibly deported by Greek authorities, who left them on a raft at sea for Turkish authorities to retrieve. The second incident involved allegations that a Portuguese Frontex vessel patrolling the area stopped a boat carrying migrants and turned it over to the Greek coast guard, who then forced the boat back into Turkish waters.
Frontex has filed a "Serious Incident Report" into the incident of April 11 according to Leijtens' letter, which "confirms the gravity of the allegations."
It said, "I am aware that there may be investigations ongoing with regard to the aforementioned events. "However, I would like to emphasise that it is of utmost importance for (Frontex) to receive all clarifications and information that are currently at the disposal of the (Greek) Coast Guard in view of current and future cooperation," Frontex and Greek authorities said in a statement.
The Spanish newspaper El Pais was the first to report on the letter.
In addition, Leijtens requested that Greece make image and video recordings from the coast guard boat allegedly involved in the alleged incident on April 11 public.
According to a New York Times article, migrants were transported by van to a beach on Lesbos before being transported by speedboat to a coast guard vessel. They were allegedly abandoned by the coast guard on a life raft at sea so that the Turkish coast guard could rescue them and bring them back to Turkiye.
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The alleged incident on April 11 is something that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was reelected for a second four-year term on June 25, has said he takes "very seriously" and for which he has called for an investigation.
After a two-day EU summit on migration, Mitsotakis was questioned about Greece's relationship with Frontex and responded that it had always been positive.
"I think that with Frontex we share a common mission: safeguard our external borders, and of naturally to always save individuals who may be in danger at sea," the man said.
