Rules for migrant NGOs, money for Libyan coast guard
Concrete effects from Italy-Germany-France deal, Italian PMANSAmed
3 July 2017
'Concrete effects' from Italy-Germany-France migrant deal, Italian PM
ROME - Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Monday that he hoped a deal his government reached at the weekend with France and Germany on securing greater help for Italy in managing the Mediterranean asylum-seeker crisis will change the situation. "The Italian initiative has produced the first results and I hope that these generate concrete effects," Gentiloni said at the 40th conference of the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
France and Germany promised to step up the relocation of asylum seekers from Italy according to a joint statement released Monday following Sunday's meeting of the interior Ministers of the three countries, Gerard Collomb, Thomas de Maizière and Marco Minniti, and European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulo.
The Paris meeting also produced agreement on a new code of conduct for NGOs involved in migrant rescues in the Mediterranean, economic support for the Libyan coast guard and aid to the IOM and the UNHCR to ensure the reception centres in Libya meet international standards for life conditions and human rights. It called for a European strategy for repatriations and full implementation of the EU programme to relocate people who need protection too. The statement said that "strong solidarity was expressed towards Italy, which is facing a growing number of arrivals". It said France and Germany pledged their "commitment to increase efforts on the issue of relocation".
Gentiloni said Monday that the whole EU must share the burden of the crisis to prevent the strain becoming too much for Italy. "All of Italy is mobilized to face the (migrant) flows and it asks for the EU to share the burden, which it necessary if it wants to stay true to its history and its principles," Gentiloni said. "It is necessary for Italy to prevent the flows becoming unsustainable and feeding hostile reactions within our social fabric"
Don't confuse refugees with economic migrants - Macron
PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated Monday that economic migrants should not be confused with refugees. "We must conduct in a coordinated way in Europe an effective and humane action which will enable us to welocme political refugees, without confusing them with economic migrants and without abandoning the indispensable maintenance of our borders," he said.
Source: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/italy/2017/07/03/rules-for-migrant-ngos-money-for-libyan-coast-guard_5fa47c52-23ac-40f5-9566-4ecb89d855ae.html
