ROME/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Before his visit to Rome, Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised Italy solidarity in taking in refugees. Italy, Greece and other EU states on the Mediterranean face a major challenge because the number of refugees arriving there is increasing, the SPD politician told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “And we must not leave Italy and the others alone with that, but pursue an approach of solidarity and responsibility.”
At the same time, Scholz campaigned for an agreement on a fundamental reform of the European asylum system. “We need a solidary distribution of responsibility and responsibility between the EU states and compliance with the standards for those seeking protection in the asylum procedure and in the integration in the EU states.”
Scholz is leaving for Rome on Thursday morning to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. It is the Chancellor’s first visit to the Italian capital since the leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party took power in October. The European asylum policy should be the subject of the conversation between the two.
Parallel to the Chancellor’s trip, the interior ministers of the European Union are trying to initiate a major reform of the European asylum system in Luxembourg. It is about a much more rigid handling of migrants with no prospects of staying and a duty to support the particularly heavily burdened member states at the EU’s external borders, which also includes Italy. / mfi / DP / mis