Spain, Greece, Italy, Cyprus And malt They claimed this Saturday in Thessaloniki (northern Greece) “Immediate completion” of negotiations on the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, and European Commission (EC) stronger measures to reduce irregular migration.
“The European Union needs to act quickly A powerful and effective system The final declaration of the sixth edition of the “Med5” summit, attended by the Ministers of Internal Affairs or Immigration of these five countries, includes the statement “to manage the migration problem and to offer realistic and sustainable solutions”.
The document calls on the European Commission to “negotiate new strategic partnerships and mutually beneficial agreements with migrants’ countries of origin and transit” and to guarantee the implementation of existing agreements with non-EU countries.
So far this year, approximately 194,000 immigrants and refugees The number of arrivals reached Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece and Cyprus by sea, compared to 112,000 in the same period last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Spanish Minister of Internal Affairs Fernando Grande-Marlaska emphasized that although there is currently a good cooperation between Spain and Morocco, there have been some developments in recent weeks. Huge increase in migration flows from Senegal to the Canary Islandssays the document.
His Italian counterpart, Matteo Piantedosi, stated that most of the immigrants coming to Italy come from Tunisia, which has become a transit country for West Africa and the Sahel.
Five Mediterranean countries in joint declaration highlight the need to intensify efforts to increase repatriations Origin of immigrants whose asylum applications are rejected.
The conference took place a day after Poland and Hungary’s opposition to the European Union (EU) migration and asylum agreement blocked the approval of a final declaration on migration supported by all Member states at an informal summit in Granada (southern Spain).
Last Wednesday, European Union countries reached an agreement by qualified majority on the Crisis Directive, the last piece of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum that has not yet been agreed upon.
But, It will now be necessary to negotiate with the European Parliament to reach a definitive agreement It was stated that the immigration legislative package has been accepted and may come into force.