EUROPE-MIGRANTS/ITALY-GERMANY (PHOTO) – REUTERS Agency
FRANKFURT, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Germany decided to continue welcoming migrants and refugees arriving in Italy, the Interior Minister announced late on Friday, two days after announcing the suspension of a voluntary agreement with Rome to receive new arrivals.
Under a European Union solidarity program, Germany had committed to helping member states like Italy, especially overwhelmed by migrants, by hosting 3,500 people, but on Wednesday it announced the suspension of the agreement.
He said Rome was failing to meet its obligations under the EU’s so-called Dublin rules to process asylum applications in the bloc’s country of first arrival.
But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the recent arrival of thousands of migrants to the small Italian island of Lampedusa meant Germany would welcome people after all.
“The reason we have suspended the procedure… is that Italy has not shown any willingness to accept people under the Dublin procedure. Now of course it is clear that we will fulfill our obligation of solidarity,” Faeser told the broadcaster German ARD.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday called for the EU to act together “with a naval mission if necessary” to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
Meloni promised strong action in the face of a surge in migrant arrivals this week in Lampedusa, where the disembarkation of 7,000 migrants sparked calls for help from local politicians.
The Italian Coast Guard found a newborn dead on a boat carrying migrants to the island during a rescue operation, the ANSA news agency reported Saturday. (Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Edited in Spanish by Manuel Farías)
Source: Ambito
