Germany will continue to accept migrants and refugees from Italy, the Interior Ministry has confirmed.
The decision comes two days after authorities in Germany announced the plan to suspend the voluntary solidarity pact, under which Berlin took in migrants from Italy. Germany’s Interior Ministry told Deutsche Welle that such changes were discussed as a result of high migratory pressure.
Italy is dealing with an influx in the number of migrants. Therefore, an agreement that would lead Germany to accept 3,500 asylum seekers who had first reached Italy from the EU external borders was introduced.
According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the recent arrival of thousands of migrants in Lampedusa meant Germany would take in people after all.
The reason we have suspended the procedure …. is that Italy has shown no willingness whatsoever to take back people under the Dublin procedure. Now it’s, of course, clear that we will meet our obligation of solidarity.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urged the EU to act jointly, “with a naval mission if necessary,” in order to prevent migrants from North Africa from reaching the Mediterranean.
Meloni said that her country would take action as a response to the increased number of migrants.
Recently, Lampedusa reported an influx of 7,000 migrants reaching this area within two days, leading its mayor to warn the territory is becoming overwhelmed.
Mayor Filippo Mannino said the migrant crisis had reached a “point of no return,” according to CNN.
The European Union has introduced a plan in order to help Italian authorities handle the number of migrants and asylum seekers following the record number of people who reached Lampedusa in the past weekend, as reported by local authorities.
Emphasising that irregular migration is a European challenge and needs a European answer, the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, introduced the ten-point plan that would help Italy get out of the crisis.
Von der Layen said that the better the EU gets at managing legal migration, the stricter it can be with irregular migration.
We will decide who comes to the European Union and under what circumstances, and not the smugglers and traffickers.
The European Commission President said that she introduced the plan to several European Union leaders, expressing her hopes that it will be supported by them.
