Malta Agreement. It is only valid for six months and rotates voluntarily. Only Conte and Di Maio are satisfied

(by Massimiliano D'Elia) "A historic step forward, a decisive turning point on repatriation", Thus the president of the Italian council Giuseppe Conte on the sidelines of the meetings held at the UN headquarters in New York. Prime Minister Conte refers to the Malta agreement between the ministers of the interior of EU countries. The Italian proposal, agreed with the European Commission, was to draw up a list of safe ports in North Africa where migrants from Libya can be disembarked. The proposal was accepted by the European countries present to the extent that only intentions are discussed. Only subsequent concrete acts will be able to seal the "goodness" of the agreement. Meanwhile, around 180 migrants have disembarked from the Ocean Viking on the Italian coast, in the port of Messina.

Not by chance the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini defined the draft prepared in Valletta “yet another promise, but zero facts". 

Giuseppe Conte immediately replied: "Salvini must not have jealousy and envy. Before we had a redistribution entrusted to my phone calls and those of the foreign minister, Moavero, in the various weekends". The words of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte were immediately followed by those of the head of the #Farnesina, Luigi Di Maio"On relocations and repatriations we will do more than him, maybe it didn't take much". 

Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, according to Italian intentions, should be the countries whose ports should guarantee the arrival of migrant-laden ships. In this way, writes Corriere della Sera, a wider rotation of the places destined for landings would be obtained and those coming from those areas would be eliminated from the list of those who can request asylum unless they are in particular dangerous conditions. Therefore, even repatriation could become faster. In this context, bilateral pacts will be signed in the coming days which, in exchange for development projects and economic aid, should prompt the North African governments to accept the readmission of their citizens with faster procedures. 

The agreement has a duration of six months and will be renewed only if it leads to concrete results. It will allow the transfer, according to previously established quotas, ranging from 10 to 25%, only those who arrive on board NGO ships or who have been rescued by the coast guard or the financial police. We are talking about about 10 percent of landings because the remaining 90 percent do not arrive with NGOs. Hence the need to increase the number of repatriations. Of course, the rule remains that the rotation of European ports for landings will be voluntary. 

EU Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud commented on the development of the migration flows: "it is hoped that long-term solutions will be found with the reform of the Dublin system, which we have already put on the table, but also with the aim of bringing support to all Member States, especially those that are under the greatest pressure". 

 

 

 

Malta Agreement. It is only valid for six months and rotates voluntarily. Only Conte and Di Maio are satisfied