The ministers of internal affairs of the European Union are meeting on Thursday, in Brussels, with migration and asylum as the main points on the agenda, in the context in which Europe is faced in recent weeks with a massive wave of migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean to reach southern Italy, reports Agerpres.
Migrants in LampedusaPhoto: Alessandro Serrano’/AGF / Sipa Press / Profimedia
The participants will be informed about the current state of the ongoing legislative debates aimed at reforming the European legislation on asylum.
The ministers will also have an exchange of views on the external dimension of migration, including cooperation with external partners to manage the pressures involved in migration.
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A provision included in the pact on migration and asylum, presented by the European Commission in September 2020, refers to a system of mandatory solidarity between EU member states in the event of a massive influx of migrants at the borders of a member country. The text is currently blocked by disagreements between countries.
Hungary, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic opposed the text in July, while Germany, Slovakia and the Netherlands abstained, preventing the majority required for adoption.
Recently, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, launched an appeal to the member countries in order to reach a compromise in this file, stressing that all efforts must be made for this purpose. “I would not name any country, but rather I would say that every effort must be made to unblock any last-minute obstacles,” said Metsola, who insisted that it was “essential” that Europe resolve this year the legislative crisis regarding migration.
She added that there will be countries that will not want to accept new rules, but she expressed confidence that a solution will be found in the coming weeks.
Europe has recently been faced with an influx of illegal migrants, a large number of them coming in boats, often overloaded, from North Africa.
The number of boat arrivals in Italy from North Africa has increased, with more than 133,000 migrants registered so far this year, compared to almost 70,000 for the same period in 2022. However, the numbers have not yet surpassed those in 2016, when more than 181,000 people, many of them Syrians fleeing the war, arrived in Italy.
