Brussels, 01/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - In a press release on Monday 30 June, Cecilia Malmström indicated that the Commission was going to pay Italy €4 million from the emergency fund to help it respond to the waves of migrants arriving in the country. The Italian authorities are having to confront increasing migratory pressure, with more than 5,000 people having to be rescued over the past few days. The Swedish Commissioner added that “we are looking at ways to contribute even more”.
Malmström deplored the further losses of life, with around 30 migrants having died in the Sicilian Channel on Sunday night. The commissioner said that this new tragedy demonstrated that the EU had to redouble its efforts to combat the human traffickers and smugglers. She also announced that the EU was preparing a plan on this issue involving Europol and Frontex and focusing on relations with third countries. This action plan will be one of the first common areas of work with the Italian Presidency. On Friday 4 July, Malmström will travel to Rome with the College of Commissioners, then to Milan on 9 July, for an informal meeting with EU ministers for home affairs. Last Thursday, the commissioner had a meeting with Angelino Alfano, the Italian minister for home affairs, to discuss these matters.
On Monday, Malmström again called on the member states to take in more refugees and improve their re-settlement capacities, particularly for Syrians, by directly taking them from United Nations High Commission for Refugees-run camps. The European Council on 26-27 June paid modest attention to these reception programmes in Europe and the simply called for increased efforts to be made on re-settlement at global level. (SP)