Tajani: Immigration is a European problem

In his statements from Brussels, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani again referred to immigration, refugees and his country’s position vis-à-vis NGOs.

“This is a European problem, not Italy and France. I reiterated that for us this problem must be dealt with at Community level. We emphasized that the problem of migrants does not only concern the Mediterranean route, but also includes the Balkan route, and the whole tone of the discussion was not that of rupture”, underlined the head of Italian diplomacy.

“We will devote ourselves first to the Balkans, because there is an emergency situation there. But I will also go to Africa, because I think it is important that the problem is addressed at its source and that agreements must be signed with the countries of origin to stop the departures,” Tajani added.

According to the Italian foreign minister, “when aid is offered at sea it means that aid is given to shipwrecked people who are in danger of drowning, but giving rendezvous at sea means that some carry people only for half of the journey, and they take over the other half some others”.

“This is not correct, because the NGOs operating in the central Mediterranean do not inform the Coast Guard, the Navy, our Economic Police. They move autonomously, decide where to go, without talking to anyone. It is a choice that cannot be made by a private organization. Providing aid at sea should be the business of commercial ships, but there are NGOs, which do a different job,” Tajani concluded.

RES-EMP

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