Italy imposes a new EU strategy in the treatment of rescued migrants

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, on a photo taken on June 29. (Photo: Reuters / Eric Vidal)

(dpa) The populist government around Cinque Stelle and Lega has managed its tough run to the migration crisis: EU member states have set themselves up Friday agreement in Brussels, Strategy to deal with rescued migrants. The plan should ideally be in the next five weeks. The migrants had until then been brought exclusively to Italy. For this reason, the Rome government has recently threatened to block Italian ports for vessels operating in the EU

In Italy, the EU mission, also supported by Germany with a ship, has long been considered a problem. This is mainly due to the fact that in 2015 the government had agreed that migrants rescued on the margins of the mission should be brought to Italian ports.

At that time, it was not foreseeable that the initial EU mission against smuggling would be Ships would ship tens of thousands of migrants. Up to now, there were more than 49,000.

Many unanswered questions

It was not clear on Friday night early, when the operation is fully resumed . In order to prevent EU vessels from rescuing migrants who would then be unable to land, Enrico Credendino had already ordered Thursday that all ships involved in the operation withdraw from operations and arrive in the ports by next Monday.

From Brussels' point of view, the deployment could continue in all areas, it was said Friday evening after hours of deliberations in Brussels with diplomatic circles. All Member States had reaffirmed that the operational plan would be maintained until the conclusion of the strategic review.

What solution could still be found at the end of the review? According to information provided by EU circles, it is conceivable that migrants rescued during the operation will be distributed in the EU in the future. Theoretically, one could also agree that EU ships will no longer touch Italian ports exclusively after rescuing migrants.

Rome goes on

The Italian government has had several non-EU military vessels in recent weeks stuck with migrants rescued on board. Last weekend, for example, before the landing of some 450 migrants in Italy in 19459022, European partners such as Germany pledged to accept certain people.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has already sent a letter to the President of the Commission. Jean-Claude Juncker and the President of the Council Donald Tusk called for a revision of the mission "Sophia". The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini, leader of the right, demanded in early July that all ships of the EU missions, such as "Themis" or Operation EUNAVFOR MED "Sophia", do not automatically enter Italy.