On Wednesday 26 July, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, addressed a letter to the Italian Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, in which he announced new assistance measures to Italy to manage migration flows from the central Mediterranean.
The President is proposing to the Italian Prime Minister whether he considers it appropriate to mobilise an additional €100 million to support the action taken by the Italian government to process asylum requests, ensure the return of people whose asylum requests have been rejected and to help the local authorities integrate migrants. The Commission also indicates that it is looking at measures to speed up the relocations of asylum seekers from Italy to other member states.
The Commission is also proposing to increase assistance from the European Coast and Border Guard by deploying an additional 500 experts in Italy. They are also thinking of fast tracking returns. Similarly, it is proposing to make an additional 40 experts available to help examine asylum requests. Finally, it is also suggesting releasing new funds to facilitate voluntary returns. More than 93,000 migrants arrived in Italy this year mainly from Nigeria, Bangladesh and Guinea.
In his letter, President Junker makes a commitment to stepping up efforts to reach an agreement on readmissions with Bangladesh by exerting a certain pressure on this country in the area of visa policy. On Wednesday 26 July, the European Commissioner for Migration announced that work on the readmission agreements with third countries would continue, particularly the work undertaken with Tunisia, which is expected to resume this autumn. (Original version in French Solenn Paulic)