The interior and migration ministers of Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta have urged the European Commission to strengthen the prevention of irregular flows and the fight against human trafficking by promoting “new partnerships with the main countries of origin and transit of irregular migration to the EU”.
In a joint declaration adopted after the MED5 summit, the five Mediterranean countries called for ensuring the full implementation of the agreements already signed with third countries, admitting that there is “considerable room for improvement” to ensure that cooperation leads to “orderly and safe migration”.
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Step up cooperation with countries of origin and transit of migrants
The meeting, the seventh face-to-face meeting held since the creation of the group in 2021 and the second organised in Spain, was attended by the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; his counterparts from Italy, Matteo Piantedosi, and Malta, Byron Camilleri; as well as the Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairidis, and the Director of the Cyprus Asylum Service, Andreas Georgiades.
“We have the firm conviction that the key to migration management lies in cooperation, both bilateral and of the EU as a whole, with the countries of origin and transit of migration,” said Grande-Marlaska at the press conference following the meeting. “This is the policy that we have applied in Spain and that we have promoted from this Mediterranean forum in the EU”, he added.
The joint declaration also called for an improvement in funding to cover all the procedures set out in the migration pact, “from prevention at the source of illegal flows to solidarity measures”, including infrastructure, equipment, personnel and training. “The EU must specify an increase in European funds and flexible financing instruments for cooperation”, insisted Grande-Marlaska.
In the text approved this Saturday, the ministers also called for greater involvement of European agencies in prevention in the countries of origin, “with special attention to Frontex, which can contribute enormously to the fight at source against the mafias that traffic people and take advantage of the vulnerability and desperation of thousands of people”, the Spanish minister specified.
Full commitment to the new European migration pact
The five countries, meeting for the first time after the approval of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, have expressed their “full commitment” to the “effective and efficient” implementation of the agreement. They recognised the importance of the new legal framework, based on the principles of “shared responsibility and tangible and effective solidarity”, the same principles that the MED5 defended during the negotiation process, as the minister recalled during his speech.
“It is a historic pact, which comes after decades of discrepancies and which provides us for the first time with a single, common and effective legislative framework, aimed at managing orderly and regular immigration”, said Grande-Marlaska. The minister also stressed the agreement’s commitment “to the values of the EU, to international legislation and to the protection of human rights and the right to asylum”.
The Spanish Minister of the Interior drew attention to the choice of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as the venue for this summit of Mediterranean countries, which for the first time is being held on the Atlantic coast. “The place chosen is also the message, a clear message of support for the Canary Islands, for their constant efforts to tackle the migratory challenge, for the solidarity they have shown in times of great difficulty”, he said, recalling that this determined commitment “includes Spain, the Mediterranean countries and the EU”.