EU offers help to Italy to cope with migrants
February 19, 2015
On Thursday, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said that Brussels was ready to "lend a helping hand" to Italy, which is dealing with record numbers of refugees trying to reach its shores.
"Italy is not alone. Europe stands with Italy," Avramopoulos said.
Emergency funding worth 13.7 million euros ($15.6 million) worth is to be provided to Italy for asylum, migration and integration of new arrivals.
Of the 200,000 people estimated to have reached European soil last year, 170,000 of those are believed to have entered through Italy.
Italy's foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, praised the decision, following a request he made on Monday asking for more help.
The European nation already receives the majority of EU funds for supporting migration and is set to receive more than 500 million euros by 2020.
Desperate and dangerous
The EU also announced that Operation Triton, launched by EU border agency Frontex in November last year, will be extended until "at least the end of 2015," costing at least 18 million euros.
The mission, designed to assist in protecting the Mediterranean nation's vast coastline, helps fill the gap left by Italy's Mare Nostrum mission, which ended due to exorbitant running costs. It was also criticized as possibly encouraging migrants to attempt to reach Italy by sea.
Triton has just three aircraft and nine ships in its fleet, most of which are unsuited to sailing in open seas.
According to the EU migration commissioner, the operation's resources could be increased, "if Italy identifies the need." In the past, many European countries have been reluctant to boost funding to Frontex-associated activities.
Human rights group Amnesty International dismissed the increase in support, saying it would have a minimal impact at best on the number of lives that could potentially be saved.
But acting director of Amnesty's European Institutions Office, Iverna McGowan, said merely extending the operation's duration "without increasing its assets and operational area changes nothing."
The EU estimates that roughly 6,000 people have so far been saved by Triton, jointly-run by 21 countries.
Growing numbers of migrants are leaving Libya destined for the southern island of Lampedusa. Last week, around 300 people lost their lives trying to cross reach the island.
The Italian foreign minister said he hoped further support would be discussed at an EU meeting on migration in Brussels in March.
an/kms (dpa, AP, AFP)