So far, 13 EU Member States have said they are ready, as of July, to relocate people rescued at sea, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said in Prague on Monday 11 July.
The commitments of these voluntary countries bring the number of reception places pledged to “more than 8,000”, the Commissioner added, while the target of 10,000 has been set for one year. The discussions will continue in the “solidarity platform”, Ms Johansson added, refusing to see “the glass as half empty” and believing that, in the difficult international context of great uncertainty, the Member States have managed to do something positive.
The topic of the solidarity declaration for the benefit of frontline states (so that they can apply the new rules on Eurodac and migrant screening in return) was discussed at lunch, as part of a wider debate on migration. One of the issues discussed was preparing for new migratory flows linked to world hunger, as the acting Executive Director of the Frontex agency, Aija Kalnaja, herself advocated on Monday morning. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)