Von der Leyen to Meloni: half a billion for EU humanitarian corridors
“We should focus our efforts on those in need of international protection by providing them with real alternatives to placing their fate in the hands of criminals. The work of Italy and others to offer safe and legal pathways to vulnerable people through humanitarian corridors offers a fundamental contribution. We will provide at least half a billion euros in funding for resettlement and humanitarian corridors until 2025, offering support for the resettlement of around 50,000 people”. This was written by the president of the European Commission, Ursula of the Leyenin his letter of response to the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, after the tragedy of Cutro.
“We will continue to prioritize safe and legal routes out of Libya and Niger by strengthening the emergency transit mechanism and providing assisted voluntary return opportunities for those not in need of protection as part of our broader engagement with the EU-African Union-UN task force”, reads the letter. “Furthermore, to support emerging models based on the experience of humanitarian corridors, the Commission launched a targeted call for funding under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for Community Advocacy in January. We will have the opportunity to discuss these solutions in more detail at the upcoming European Resettlement Forum in May, including how to continue to support Italy’s experience with humanitarian corridors at a European level,” he added. of the Leyen.
Von der Leyen to Meloni, moral duty to act against tragedies
“I totally share your opinion that as Europeans, politicians and citizens we have a moral duty to act to avoid such tragedies, which unfortunately occur too often. This latest tragedy must therefore serve as an invitation to redouble our determination to bring effective and lasting,” he writes of the Leyen in the letter.
“It is true that migration is a complex and constantly evolving reality. It is a challenge that we struggle to face and which requires fundamental and global solutions. These can only be found when we act together”, he points out. “Over time, we have shown that when we act together, the EU can manage migration. For example, the millions of Ukrainians fleeing war in Russia have resulted in the largest displacement on our continent since the Second World War. Therefore, it is clear that migration is a European challenge that requires a European solution”, highlights the EU leader. “Progress on the New Pact on migration and asylum is essential if we want to break the cycle of piecemeal solutions that do not bring sufficient progress. At the heart of the approach proposed by the European Commission is the management of migration by acting on the various strands of our policies holistically: helping those in need of international protection, preventing irregular departures, fighting criminal smuggling networks, offering pathways for safe and legal migration, and repatriating those who have no right to stay,” he sums up Von the Leyen.
Migrants, P. Chigi: von der Leyen’s proposals are our requests
The interventions announced by the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen for immigration “correspond perfectly to the requests made by the Italian government to the European institutions in recent months”. This is what can be read in a note from Palazzo Chigi, regarding the response of the president of the Commission to the letter that the president of the Council had sent her after the shipwreck of Cutro.
In particular, the Commission’s willingness to step up cooperation with key partners in North Africa, to set up a framework for enhanced cooperation, to work on ‘search and rescue coordination’, to provide further support economy in the management of maritime borders, as well as the desire to keep the migration dossier at the center of the next European Council in March in view of a future agreement on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum correspond perfectly to the requests made in recent months by the Italian government to the European institutions”.
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