The Italian section of the ‘European Movement’ supports the announcements by the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, concerning the creation of portfolios of European Commissioners responsible for Housing and the Mediterranean, in a declaration adopted on Tuesday 23 July.
Giving a European Commissioner responsibility for monitoring the housing issue in the EU is “necessary” in view of the fragmentation of households, professional mobility and the phenomenon of migration, according to the ‘Movimento europeo’, which believes that this responsibility should be placed within the framework of social and territorial cohesion policies.
As far as the Mediterranean is concerned, this new portfolio, which will have to respect the prerogatives of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, should not be responsible for migration, according to the organisation. It also advocates a policy of reception and integration of legal migrants rather than a policy of deportation, and calls for respect for fundamental rights by third countries - Tunisia and Libya - which the EU is asking to stem migratory flows.
“We also condemn the fact that space is instead being given to outsourcing asylum applications to third countries, which undermines the fundamental right to a fair assessment of applications for international protection and violates the principles of international law”, stresses the Italian section of the ‘European Movement’.
See the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/d4z (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)