We must all redouble our efforts to adopt the Migration and Asylum Pact and the Migration Action Plan for the Central Mediterranean region, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter in response to several people drowning again on Sunday in southern Italy. Off the coast of Calabria.
The president wrote that he was deeply saddened by the terrible shipwreck and called the death of innocent people a tragedy. Last November, the European Commission proposed an action plan for the Central Mediterranean region, after the number of illegal migrants arriving via this route increased by around 50 percent last year; almost 90,000 migrants arrived via this route.
At the most recent EU summit held in the first week of February, the leaders of the member states agreed to take several concrete and practical steps, including increasing EU funding for border protection equipment such as vehicles, watchtowers and surveillance technology. They also emphasized the need to finalize the new EU migration and asylum package, presented by the European Commission in September 2020. The pact, which outlines a new approach to responses to migration challenges, is based on three pillars: the introduction of new procedures, the flexible sharing of responsibilities and the principle of solidarity, and the building and strengthening of partnerships with other countries.
Source: Magyar Hírlap/MTI
Image: AFP
