At the weekly meeting of the Commission College on 2 March, Commissioners held a deep debate over the situation in the Southern Mediterranean and the events unfolding Europe's southern neighbourhood. They described them as a “rendezvous with history” and assured that Europe will be ready to take the challenge and support the current transformation processes.

As stated by President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, at the end of the College meeting, the Commission has a crucial set of political and economic tools that are already being deployed and will be strengthened further in the run-up to next extraordinary European Council set for 11 March.

Regarding the situation in Libya, Commissioners branded the actions of the Libyan regime over the last weeks as completely unacceptable, calling that they have made it painfully clear that “Colonel Khadhafi is part of the problem, not part of the solution”. It is time for him to go and give the country back to the people of Libya, allowing democratic forces to chart out a future course.

Humanitarian Emergency situation in the Southern Mediterranean

There are currently at least 140.000 refugees in the area, reason why the United Nations has declared an emergency situation. The European expressed its support to the appeal made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees asking for a response of the international community to this humanitarian crisis. An initial sum of 3 million euro as already been allocated, and it will soon be increased to 10 million.

At this stage, the European Union is providing medical and food aid, shelter and other necessities to refugees at the Egyptian and Tunisian borders and the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism (MIC) was also activated to help coordinate the evacuation of people fleeing Libya. Commissioner Georgieva will visit the region to oversee the operation.

Over the situation of refugees and migration, President Barroso briefed on the Joint Operation called Hermes 2011 carried out in the central Mediterranean by the EU border control agency FRONTEX and Italy. To provide further help on this, the Commission is ready to mobilise extraordinary financial assistance from funds such as the External Borders Fund and European Refugee Fund.

Finally, on political and economic reforms in the region, the Commission sees quite clear that Europe must not just deal with the fall-out of these crises, but also help to address the roots of this process. A new political paradigm in the relations with our Southern Neighbourhood will be required, a new “Pact for Democracy and Shared Prosperity”.