EU Member States' foreign ministers want things to "move forward" on the temporary regime for disembarkation of migrants, said Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Monday 15 July.
It also considered that progress in these temporary arrangements, based in particular on the relocation of rescued persons, would greatly help to bring back to sea a real naval operation with resources, namely Operation Sophia.
On Monday, ministers had before them a plan by Italian Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi to better manage migrant flows, including direct flights to Europe for people applying for asylum outside the EU and eligible for protection.
"We need a structured and stable mechanism", the minister had already explained the day before to the newspaper Corriere della sera. Italy could then, within the framework of this system, have an a priori favourable attitude towards the European naval effort, but "only if not all the people rescued at sea are transferred to Italy", he said.
The European Commission welcomed the Italian plan and recalled on Monday lunchtime that it had repeatedly called on Member States to put in place this predictable mechanism. But German Secretary of State for European Affairs Michael Roth was more cautious, saying that "solutions that are not immediately applicable" may not take Europeans much further, he said when he arrived in Brussels.
Instead, Germany insists on an "immediate ad hoc humanitarian mechanism". "We need a clear signal. We must put an end to this tragic situation in the Mediterranean and all the countries wishing to show their solidarity - and there are many of them - must be brought together quickly to find a solution", he added, adding that this would be one of the topics for discussion at the informal meeting of Interior Ministers in Helsinki on Thursday 18 July. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)