Protest at Palermo port, paper boats on black cloth representing the Mediterranean. Demotix/Lucio Ganci. All rights reserved.As the EU prepares to address the dire shortcomings in the existing governance of migration at the Extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council called for September 14, and in the run-up to the High Level Side Event on Migration planned at the United Nations General Secretariat on September 30, it becomes patently clear that governments are rather belatedly gathering around the table to formulate responses to the mounting crisis of migration to Europe.
Migration across the Mediterranean has long been a deadly matter, leading some commentators to refer to the Mare Nostrum as Cementerium nostrum. The difference of late lies in the sheer numbers and in the very mixed flows of those fleeing war, poverty and oppression.
The responses from European governments, too, are very mixed. At present, as Italy and Greece are overwhelmed as receiving points of migration from across the Mediterranean, sharp divisions of hospitality distinguish one wealthy European country from another. Whilst some open borders, other clamp them down, forcing migrants further into illegality. The issues at stake affect many more than those already on European soil.
