Lebanon says EU hardliners on refugees have it right

Lebanon says it wants to follow example of EU states that have largely rejected refugees as a model for resolving its own refugee crisis.
Lebanon says populist-led EU states "acting in their national interest".
Syrian refugees' presence has led to increased unemployment, poverty in Lebanon.
EU to halt deployment of migrant rescue ships after opposition from Rome.
EU coordination with Libya credited with sharply reducing number of migrants.

PRAGUE - Lebanon said on Wednesday it wanted to follow the example of eastern EU states that have largely rejected refugees as a way of resolving its own refugee crisis, as the wider EU bloc announced it will suspend ship patrols that have rescued tens of thousands of migrants since 2015 in the Mediterranean.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil sympathised with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia's refusal to accept refugee distribution quotas proposed by the EU in the wake of the 2015-16 migrant crisis, when more than a million people streamed into Europe, mostly from war-torn Syria.

Populist eastern EU leaders including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Poland's powerbroker Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Czech President Milos Zeman, among others, blasted German Chancellor Angela Merkel's "open door" policy on accepting migrants during that period.

These countries "were acting in their national interest and decided that the redistribution of refugees among European countries is not in their national interest, although they faced EU sanctions for that," Bassil told reporters in Prague.

"I would like this attitude to be an inspiration for Lebanon, because every state must make national interests its top priority and at this moment Lebanon's key national interest is the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland," he added.

Lebanon says it is hosting 1.5 million Syrians -- around a quarter of its own population. Less than one million of them are registered with UN refugee agency the UNHCR.

Most of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in insecurity and depend on international aid.

The International Monetary Fund has said their presence has led to increased unemployment and a rise in poverty due to greater competition for jobs.

The influx has also put strain on Lebanese water and electrical infrastructure.

Lebanese government officials and politicians have ramped up calls for Syrians to return home, but the United Nations has consistently warned that conditions in the war-ravaged country are not suitable for such returns.

"I would like Prague or Beirut to host a meeting, an initiative of countries seeking to plan and ensure the return of Syrian refugees to their country," said Bassil.

"This would be immensely useful for both Lebanon and Syria and in general it would be the best solution to the human, humanitarian and political crisis we have right now and which could get worse in the future," he said.

Cooperation with Libya

The EU announced Wednesday it will suspend ship patrols that have rescued tens of thousands of migrants since 2015 in the Mediterranean and brought them to Italy, after deep resistance from Rome which is also led by a populist government.

European Union diplomats agreed that the operation would be officially extended six months beyond its March 31 expiry date, but no longer deploy ships and instead rely on air missions and coordination with Libya.

"Member States have decided to extend the mandate of Operation Sophia for six months with a temporary suspension of its naval assets while member states continue working on a solution related to disembarkation," an EU official said in a statement.

The EU has credited the mission with having stopped smugglers taking migrants on dangerous sea crossings, but anger in Italy effectively put an end to rescue operations through Sophia a year ago.

The anti-migration government that took power in Rome last year has insisted it should not have to carry the burden of dealing with migrants rescued at sea.

In demanding other EU states take in more, Rome has also blocked non-government organisations from disembarking migrants rescued at sea in Italian ports.

Efforts to adjust Operation Sophia in the long term have beached on the broader question of how to reform the EU's so-called Dublin asylum rules, which stipulate that the country of first arrival must process asylum seekers.

EU cooperation with Libya has been credited with sharply reducing the number of migrants arriving in Europe from a 2015 peak when the continent faced its worst migration crisis since World War II.

Activists however decry rampant human rights abuses against migrants in Libya as they await passage to Europe and urge the EU to not outsource the problem to Tripoli.