Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni announced, on Sunday 23 July in Rome, the creation of a financial fund to prevent migratory flows from countries around the Mediterranean.
This fund would be replenished at an international donors’ conference, explained the Prime Minister.
Ms Meloni was bringing together around twenty countries and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for an international conference on migration, the aim of which is to develop new partnerships, such as the one between the EU and Tunisia (see EUROPE 13224/3).
Alongside the Tunisian President, the Prime Ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon were also present, as well as the EU Prime Ministers of Greece and Malta.
The “Rome Process”, as Ms Meloni called it, should make it possible to combat illegal immigration, support refugees and develop “wide-ranging cooperation to support the development of Africa” and the countries from which migrants depart, said the Italian leader. “The priority lines of financing must above all concern strategic investment and infrastructure”, she added, according to AFP.
For her part, the President of the Commission called for the development of a new strategic partnership with these countries for economic and human development, trade, investment and migration management, based on solidarity, sovereignty and shared responsibilities. The mutual benefits are obvious. Just think of the climate and the transition to clean energy in Europe, said Ms von der Leyen, referring to the hydrogen partnerships with Egypt and Morocco.
The second opportunity for cooperation concerns labour migration. “It is about training the workforce that new and emerging economies need. We can build a more balanced system, in which people move, learn, work”, added the President, stating that “we must break their [the smugglers’] cynical business model” by “opening up new legal pathways between our continents” and “work together on raising people’s awareness of the lies smugglers are spreading”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)