On 23 June the JURI committee (Committee on Legal Affairs) voted in camera to refer the question of the validity of the Frontex rule regarding the surveillance of the sea external borders to the European Court of Justice (Council Decision 2010/252/EU (“Frontex / Sea borders”)). The referral requests the Court “to preserve the effects of the measure until a new legislative act has been adopted.”
Maltese MEP Simon Busuttil, the EPP Coordinator in the Civil Liberties Committee, was quoted as saying: “we have given notice to the Commission that not all is fine with these Frontex guidelines and it is time for a rethink. We want to ensure that Parliament’s role is defended and that we can have our say. We want these rules to be fair. In their current version they are not.”
Both the LIBE and JURI committees believe that the European Commission exceeded its power when it presented the new Frontex rule under the comitology procedure as opposed to using the ordinary legislative procedure which would have given the Parliament the ability to amend the rule. Malta has strongly objected to provisions within the rule. Malta has said that its decision not to host Frontex’s Central Mediterranean enforcement operation this year, Operation Chronos, was due to the disembarkation provisions contained in the new Frontex rule. Malta believes that the rule would require intercepted migrants to be taken to Malta.
Click here for article.
Click here for statement on MEP Simon Busuttil’s web site.
Click here for EPP Group press release.
Click here and here for earlier posts.
MIGRANTS AT SEA 
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Thanks for noticing this one!