“If Italy doesn’t take the ships and doesn’t accept the law of the sea and the safest port, there’s no reason for the countries that relocate to be France and Germany, which are the ones that welcome the ships and are the same ones that they welcome migrants from Africa and Asia directly». French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said this when he arrived at the extraordinary Council of European Interior Ministers in Brussels dedicated to immigration. He also added that southern countries must open their doors to NGOs.
In relations between NGO ships and EU countries “the role of the Commission is limited but, as specified in the Action Plan, the Commission is ready to reactivate the SAR (Search and rescue) coordination group including flag countries, coastal countries and NGOs to find the best coordination between these different actors”. This was stated by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.
At the meeting of the extraordinary Interior Council underway in Brussels, Italy will present its overall position on the issue of managing migratory flows from North Africa. According to what is learned from qualified sources, «Minister Matteo Piantedosi will explain the Italian position with respect to the programmatic lines contained in the 20-point action plan presented by the European Commission on 21 November last. Italy does not present a plan by points».
“Italy is aware that the meeting represents the beginning of an important common process within the EU to define and implement effective tools to govern the phenomenon together, bearing in mind that this year only our maritime border has already reached 90,000 migrants, with an increase of more than 50% compared to 2021», explains the source. In this context, the convening of an extraordinary council of interior ministers and the draft Action Plan proposed by the European Commission represent for Italy “a sign of great attention to the needs of our country, finally bringing the question at the center of the discussion. “However, the situation requires timely action and today’s appointment must represent the necessary starting point for taking decisions on a complex dossier that must be tackled with common EU policies”, explains the source.
“We need to talk about creating a mandatory solidarity mechanism to ensure that every country in Europe shares the burden of immigration equally. This is not the time to act alone, but for European solutions”. This was stated by the Greek Minister for Immigration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachi, upon his arrival at the EU Internal Affairs Council. “In the last 7 years we have had over a million arrivals in Greece. The country has been a hotspot of arrivals due to the crisis in Syria, especially in 2015 and 2016. The level of arrivals in Greece has increased in line with the increase in arrivals in Europe. In general I have to say that the voluntary mechanism has only relocated less than 1% of the total arrivals to the 5 Mediterranean countries this year », she recalled.
“It appears that the voluntary mechanism is not sufficient to ensure that there is fair burden sharing in the EU. This is why we have put on the table the discussion for a mandatory system where all countries share the load”, highlighted the minister.
«The arrivals of migrants from the sea cannot be treated boat by boat, we need to find a sustainable solution and new legislation, but above all we must prevent migrants from getting on the boats of traffickers and for this it is really important that we work closely with the Third countries. As an incoming EU (Council) Presidency we are keen to take forward the Pact for Migration and Asylum together with our colleagues.’ This was stated by the Swedish Minister for Immigration, Maria Malmer Stenergard, upon her arrival at the EU Internal Affairs Council.