Brussels, 29/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - Before giving its approval, the Italian government is still waiting for answers from the European institutions to its questions about the ways and means of financing the EU-Turkey action plan to stop the flows of migrants to the EU.
“We have no problem either with Turkey or with Germany on the €3 billion financing for Turkey. Italy has been open from the start”, said Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the end of a meeting with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday 29 January. He nevertheless said that Italy expected answers from the European institutions as soon as possible - “answers to the queries made” on how this contribution to the EU-Turkey action plan will be used. Italy is the only country to express reluctance as to how to bring together the €3 billion for financing the action plan (see EUROPE 111469).
Merkel believed the EU-Turkey action plan should be applied so as to support a “sustainable” decrease in the number of migrants trying to reach the European Union (see EUROPE 11441). She added that the Turkish authorities had improved the possibilities for Syrian refugees in Turkey to work.
Acknowledging that Europe was going through “a delicate time” in its history, Renzi said that Italy and Germany were ready to find European solutions to both the migratory and economic challenges. “If Europe loses Schengen, Europe is lost. But Europe was born to bring walls down, not put them up”, he said. He spoke in favour of European rules and joint efforts to protect the EU's external borders, grant the right of asylum, and fight against criminal networks and smugglers.
Renzi and Merkel also agreed to cooperate with a view to finding a political way out of the Syrian and Libyan crises. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)