Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 10: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the practical steps that can be taken in the context of Euromed to ensure the safety of trafficked people at sea. [15387/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was established in 1995. At the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, held on 13 July 2008, the process was formally re-launched as the Union for the Mediterranean. The Taoiseach attended the summit. The Partnership now includes all 27 Member States, along with sixteen Southern Mediterranean States. Libya remains outside the Partnership.

Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Mediterranean Union met in Marseille on 3-4 November 2008 and discussed possible fields for cooperation. Among these are economic and trade partnership, maritime safety and migration matters.

In the declaration from Marseille, the Ministers noted that the growing number of transit vessels, the increasing risks of accidents, the threat of terrorist actions and the rise in organised crime and illicit trafficking could jeopardise maritime trade flows. The Ministers considered that a forum of Mediterranean Coast Guard Services and, as appropriate, Maritime Services could be organised as an opportunity to exchange experience in these fields. The first meeting of the Forum will take place in Genoa on 6-7 May. It will provide an opportunity to create a framework for effective collaboration between the countries concerned.

The Foreign Ministers noted that migration matters should be an integral part of the regional partnership and that issues such as legal migration, the fight against illegal migration, and the link between migration and development needed to be addressed. They underlined their commitment to facilitate legal movement of individuals and orderly-managed legal migration in the interest of all parties concerned.

Illegal migration and people trafficking are amongst the most difficult problems facing the EU and its Mediterranean partners. Any solution to these problems must involve addressing their causes, in close cooperation with the Mediterranean partners.

Libya, through which much illegal migration transits, is not a member of the Union for the Mediterranean. The European Union has been cooperating with Libya on migration for a number of years and is engaged in separate talks on a future Framework Agreement with Libya.