During a meeting in Rome, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte discussed the role of Libya’s controversial coast guard and the distribution of migrants across the European Union. Both called for increased cooperation among EU member states.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has called for concrete initiatives “such as the setting up of European humanitarian corridors” to enable the European Union to “leave behind emergency management” of migration crises.
Over 40 rights organizations have written a letter to Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte asking Italy to allow migrant search-and-rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3 to disembark migrants on board. The Dutch-flagged German NGO-run rescue ship has been at sea outside Italian waters for two weeks.
The Italian prime minister has said that the migrants stranded on a rescue boat operated by German NGO Sea Watch will soon be allowed to disembark. They will then be redistributed among several EU states.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz highlighted the need for reforms to EU border agency Frontex and its anti-human trafficking military mission in the Mediterranean, Operation Sophia. The leaders emphasised the necessity of a European solution to migratory flows.
Italy's new government appears at loggerheads with Germany on migration. But dig deeper and there is common room to cooperate despite the rhetoric.
The two leaders came together during a time of increased tensions. Macron had criticized Conte's decision to not let the migrant rescue ship Aquarius dock in Italy.