The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in the group photo of the MED9 Summit held in Rovinj (Croatia)
The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has advocated this Tuesday for the extension to Europe of the ban on narco-boats, a measure already established in Spain in 2018, as a way of tackling a problem "that requires solutions that transcend the capacities of a single country", he said during the MED9 Summit in Rovinj (Croatia).
"An EU-wide ban would help to disable the use of speedboats, and should also be extended to other associated practices, such as the illegal bunkering of speedboats at sea," the minister told his Mediterranean counterparts.
MED9 is an alliance created in 2013 that brings together nine EU Member States from southern Europe with a Mediterranean coastline: Cyprus, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. Croatia organised this Summit as part of the preparations for the forthcoming Croatian presidency of the group, with the aim of strengthening political and operational coordination between the Mediterranean partners.
The meeting, which took place on 18 and 19 May in Rovinj, focused on the management of irregular migratory flows and the protection of the EU's external borders, on the one hand, and on maritime security, with special attention to the fight against maritime drug trafficking, on the other.
Grande-Marlaska thanked the European partners for the expressions of condolence received for the recent death in the line of duty of two Civil Guards in Huelva during the pursuit of a drug boat, and agreed with his counterparts on the need to establish "global" strategies in the face of "a transnational, adaptive threat integrated into global logistics chains", such as drug trafficking.
In his remarks, the minister stressed the importance of strengthening secondary ports and rivers as a central element in the fight against drug trafficking, "which no longer affects only the major ports, nor can it be measured solely by the volume of seizures," he said.
As he said on 20 April in Paris, during the sixth meeting of the Coalition of European Countries against Organised Crime, Grande-Marlaska also urged action "against the logistical facilitators of drug trafficking", which includes the trade in boats, engines, fuel, communications and financing, "and to follow the money trail, including crypto-assets".
Joint declaration
The Summit ended with the adoption of a joint declaration reaffirming the commitment of the nine countries to the effective management of external borders and the implementation of the Migration and Asylum Pact, which will enter into force on 12 June, under the agreed terms of solidarity and shared responsibility.
In the area of internal security, the signatories committed to further strengthening port protection and enhancing intelligence sharing and the use of advanced technologies, promoting coordination with European agencies. The document also calls for "adequate funding" from the EU to address the internal challenges facing the Mediterranean region.
Non official translation