"A more responsible and more supportive Europe emerges from this European Council. Italy is no longer alone. Past principle that those who arrive in Italy arrive in Europe ".
Conte leaving the Council building around five in the morning explained the content of the agreement to the journalists present, describing the most salient points of the text of the conclusions approved during the meeting, "the principle has passed that the issue of regulation and management of migratory flows must be tackled through a more integrated approach, as we requested, which concerns the internal dimension, the external one and border control, in article one ". “Article one affirms the principle that whoever arrives in Italy arrives in Europe. In article three of the agreement, the principle is affirmed that all ships crossing the Mediterranean must respect the laws, therefore also NGOs, and must not interfere with the operations of the Libyan Coast Guard ”.
Conte then went on to describe the content of article five where "a new approach for rescues at sea is announced: actions are foreseen, from now on, based on sharing, and therefore coordinated between the member states", explaining that "The possibility of creating reception centers also in third countries is foreseen" "Again, again in article five - continued Conte - it is possible to create reception centers to allow disembarkation and, if necessary, the transit of migrants also in third countries, under the coordination and cooperation with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and with IOM ”.
"Another principle that I mention - added the President of the Council - is in Article 6, so that in Europe from now on you can create reception centers within the Member States, but only on a voluntary basis. So, for those countries that want it and want to get ready to do it, there will be centers with a collective European management ". "Still - he said - in Article seven, the principle of refinancing of the Trust Fund for Africa has finally been affirmed, which is particularly useful for the routes of migrants from North Africa".
Also it was "Affirmed necessity reform Dublin, we are satisfied".
"Article eight - he added - we asked, what was the first objective of our proposal, that the relations and agreements with the countries of origin and transit of migrants were intensified. Finally, I would like to mention article 12, which clearly states the need to reform Dublin, and therefore also taking into account the people who are rescued at sea, in the light of the rescues and the rules of Search and Rescue ", search and rescue.
Conte then concluded by showing satisfaction "I would say that overall we can be satisfied: it was a long negotiation, as the timetable tells us, but Italy is no longer alone, as we had requested".