Italy, France, Germany, Malta and Finland have reached an agreement on migrants as part of the summit held today in Malta.
At the center of the meeting was what has become the thorniest issue of recent years, both at European level and in the internal political debate: the temporary mechanisms that will allow, on the one hand, to manage the landings, and on the other to redistribute the migrants among the various EU countries.
The agreement provides for the drafting of a common document among the participating States to be discussed at the Home Affairs Council to be held in Luxembourg on 8 October, Maltese Interior Minister Farrugia said.
Some details of the text were provided by the Italian Interior Minister, Luciana Lamorgese. “The relocations”, he said, will take place “very quickly”. "Within four weeks", explained the owner of the Viminale, the asylum-seeking migrants will be transferred to other countries that will take care of both the verification of the requirements and any repatriation.
"From today Italy is no longer alone", celebrated Lamorgese, saying she was "very satisfied". What happened today in Malta is “very important, a first concrete step towards an approach of truly common European action”, he added. "I found a truly positive climate because the migration policy must be made together with the other states. We have always said that whoever arrives in Malta and Italy arrives in Europe. And today this concept is part of the common European sentiment ”, she added.
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"I welcome the positive outcome on the temporary mechanisms following the disembarkations," the European Commissioner for Home Affairs wrote on Twitter. Dimitris Avramopoulos.
“I expect other member states to join in when they discuss this at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 8 October. Progress is possible if there is political will,” Avramopoulos added.
The Prime Minister's comment came from New York, Giuseppe Conte: “Macron has given me great openings, and there is great availability from European partners. But even in the past, in emergency cases, France and Germany have solved our problems by participating in redistribution. Now what's new is the willingness to evaluate a solidarity mechanism that relieves us of the weekends spent on the phone”.
"We will not accept any mechanism that could be an incentive for new arrivals, our policy is very rigorous and we won't back down a millimetre, Italy must decide that it arrives in its territory”, in compliance with the conventions, but “a sovereign state must combat clandestine immigration”, concluded the Premier.
