Mr President, how can the European Council become embroiled in the lies of the extreme right, considering that disembarkation centres outside Europe are actually torture and detention centres as in Libya, where the coastguard is a fiction, it is in fact a militia trafficking human beings?

How can European leaders embark in the narrative of the extreme right, seeking to criminalise NGOs for saving human beings from drowning in the sea? The Council has failed until today to give a ‘save and rescue' mandate to EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia, which has nevertheless saved over 30 000 lives thanks to maritime law obligations.

If our military, our coastguards and even our NGOs were to let people die in the Mediterranean, could European leaders look themselves in the mirror? Could they face their children and can they face their grandchildren? European Commission, do your job! Be the guardian of the Treaties and pass these guidelines preventing Member States from criminalising the saviours of what is left of our decency and humanity.