Portugal is already in contact with the French authorities to “quickly” receive 25 migrants who were on board the ship viking oceanrescued in the Mediterranean, the Government announced this Friday, defending a “very serious commitment” on the migration issue.

“We are working with the French authorities to ensure that everything moves forward as quickly as possible. There are, obviously, processes that must be attended to, there is a lot of preparation and reception work that is being done by the entities with responsibility in this matter and, therefore, I believe that we will soon be able to receive and accommodate these 25 people,” he said. the Secretary of State for Civil Protection, Patrícia Gaspar.

Speaking to Portuguese journalists in Brussels at the end of an extraordinary meeting of the Interior Ministers of the European Union (EU) and the Schengen area, the head highlighted the “perfectly supportive position [de Portugal] with the countries most affected by this issue”????????

????????We assume the political commitment to receive 25 of the migrants on board the ship viking oceanin support of the French authorities and in close coordination with these authorities”, listed Patrícia Gaspar.

In this extraordinary meeting, according to the official, “a very serious commitment was established in the sense of working together to react and be able to face this challenge of migratory routes.”

The interior ministers of the EU and the Schengen area met this Friday in Brussels to discuss the situation on all migratory routes to and within Europe and the common measures to be adopted.

The extraordinary council of Interior Ministers, convened by the Czech six-monthly presidency of the EU Council, was attended by third countries that make up the Schengen area -Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland-, and was scheduled after a diplomatic dispute between Italy and France caused by Italy’s refusal to host a humanitarian rescue ship.

The recent refusal of the new Italian Government to accept the humanitarian ship viking ocean of the non-governmental organization (NGO) SOS Méditerranée, with more than 200 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean on board, reopened the debate on migration issues within the EU.

The immigrants would then be welcomed in France, but the case of the viking ocean it ended up triggering a diplomatic crisis between Paris and Rome, with the French authorities demanding European initiatives for better control of the EU’s external borders.

Italian PM criticizes France’s “aggressive response” in ‘Ocean Viking’ case

At the meeting, together with the new Pact on Migration and Asylum —presented by the European Commission on September 23, 2020—, a recent action plan was discussed that includes 20 concrete measures to respond to the challenges of the Central Mediterranean route, which covers Italy, and achieve joint responses to a general increase in migratory flows.

The Asylum Policy is the way in which the EU organizes the capacity of Member States to respond to migrants who arrive at the external borders of the EU and request asylum.

Italy is covered by the so-called Central Mediterranean route, one of the deadliest migratory routes, which leaves Libya, Algeria and Tunisia towards Europe, specifically the Italian and Maltese territories.

More than 50,000 people have died since 2014 on migration routes, most of them trying to reach Europe, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.

More than half of the 50,000 deaths documented by IOM occurred on routes to and within Europe, with the Mediterranean Sea claiming at least 25,104 lives.

Paris rejects relocations if Italy does not respect “the law of the sea”

France has warned Italy that it will not receive asylum seekers arriving from that country as long as it does not respect “the law of the sea” and continues to refuse to disembark migrants rescued in the Mediterranean.

This position was expressed this Friday by the French Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, in Brussels. “If Italy does not accept the ships, she does not accept the law of the sea and (the principle of) the safest port, there is no reason for the countries that guarantee the relocations to be the same ones that directly receive the boats or receive migrants from Africa or AsiaDarmanin said upon arrival at the meeting in Brussels.

A dozen countries have pledged to take in some 8,000 asylum seekers over the course of a year, with France and Germany accepting 3,500 each. Nevertheless, so far, only 100 relocations have been carried out????????

In an attempt to reactivate this mechanism, based on the voluntary action of the States, the Commission presented an action plan on the Central Mediterranean on Monday.

“Our desire is obviously to take this mechanism, the only one that allows us to distribute the difficulties in Europe and force the countries of first entry, such as Italy, to establish the borders we need and the registration of all foreigners arriving in Europe. . At the moment, it is not like that,” Darmanin said.

The action plan aims, in particular, to strengthen cooperation with countries such as Tunisia, Libya and Egypt to prevent departures and increase the return of irregular migrants, in addition to “promoting discussions within the International Maritime Organization” (IMO) on ” guidelines for ships carrying out salvage operations at sea”.

Italy, like Greece, Malta and Cyprus, recently pointed the finger at humanitarian organizations whose “private boats operate in complete autonomy”, accusing them of encouraging migration.

Greek Interior Minister Notis Mitarachi has complained that Turkey is not respecting a 2016 migration agreement that includes the return of migrants who do not have the right to asylum.

He also considered that the voluntary solidarity mechanism “is not enough”, and called for a “mandatory” solution.

Some of the member states, including the Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, are focused on another migration route: that of the Balkans, which has caused almost 130,000 irregular entries into the EU since the beginning of the yearaccording to the Frontex agency, an increase of 168%.