France and Spain do not intend to allow migrants rescued in the Mediterranean to disembark in their ports. The announcement came from the Ansa agency, which cites sources in Brussels. The president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, will be at the plenary session of the European Parliament at 9 for a political debate on actions to alleviate the pressure of migratory flows on Italy. A little later the college of commissioners will discuss and adopt a plan of EU measures to support Italy. A move that comes after the meeting of the interior ministers of France, Germany, and Italy and EU commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos in Paris on Sunday, and in view of the informal meeting of EU interior ministers on Thursday in Tallinn.
Meeting at which Italy will present a document finalized during the Paris pre-summit and which provides for a number of points: a code of conduct for NGOs; financial support to the Libyan Coast Guard for coastal monitoring; help IOM and UNHCR to ensure that centers in Libya meet international standards for living conditions and human rights; strengthen the European strategy on returns, increase readmission rates, fully implement the relocation scheme agreed at EU level to strengthen the reallocation of people in need of protection.
"Our priority is to work upstream to reduce the flow of migrants to Italy and avoid tragedies in the Mediterranean - said the European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro - Oggi l'Italia she is in a delicate situation and we will help her. It is what we already do politically, financially, materially. We have achieved results, but we need to redouble our efforts to significantly reduce the flow. France has been very responsible from the start and is also under pressure, especially in Calais. But she can try harder. The situation is unsustainable, answers are urgently needed". For contributions to the fund for Africa, he added, Rome released 4 million euros, Germany 50 million and France only 3: "Too low a figure".
The most difficult issue to resolve at the informal meeting of EU interior ministers in Tallinn - according to various sources in Brussels - will be the hypothesis of disembarking rescued migrants in ports of other EU countries. Difficulties are also registered on the issue of resources for the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for stability and the fight against the root causes of migration, to which, for the moment, the Member States have paid only 89 million euros.
To tackle the migration crises "we need to carry out an effective and humane action in a coordinated way in Europe that allows us to welcome political refugees who run a real risk because it is part of our values - said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, during the speech delivered before Congress – without confusing them with economic migrants and without abandoning the indispensable maintenance of our borders”.
Meanwhile, the UN does not foresee a drop in the mixed flow of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe by sea: "The indications we have do not indicate a slowdown in arrivals in Libya, which means that a larger number of people could continue try to leave the country via the central Mediterranean route”, said the UNHCR special envoy for the central Mediterranean, Vincent Cochetel, recalling that since the beginning of the year 84.830 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy by sea with a 19% increase over last year.
