The MEP, also co-president of the National Association of Welcoming Cities and Territories, reacted Thursday on franceinfo to the arrival of around 7,000 migrants on the island of Lampedusa, in Italy.
The Red Cross is overwhelmed. Around 7,000 migrants, including many families, arrived at the reception center on the island of Lampedusa in Italy within 24 hours on Wednesday September 13. The establishment can normally only accommodate 400.
“We are facing enormous humanitarian tragedies if the EMember States are not showing more solidarity towards the countries of first entry”, said this Thursday on franceinfo Damien Carême, MEP Green Group/European Free Alliance, and co-president of the National Association of Welcoming Cities and Territories.
>> Migrants: the situation on the island of Lampedusa is a “humanitarian and political drama”, regrets Italian journalist Alberto Toscano
franceinfo: what do you think of Germany which no longer wants to welcome migrants from Italy?
Damien Carême, MEP and co-president of the National Association of Welcoming Cities and Territories:
This shows the failure of the Dublin Regulation which is underway [il prévoit que le pays d’arrivée d’un migrant dans l’UE traite sa demande d’asile]. Unfortunately, in the immigration pact that we are negotiating to change this regulation, the solution has not been found. We always make the first countries of entry responsible for the asylum requests of people who arrive on European territory. 124,000 arrivals since January in Italy compared to 65,000 last year, how do you expect Italy, which has to deal with these arrivals, to also be able to take back the people who arrived in Italy, who left. There is a compulsory solidarity mechanism which must be established at European level to relieve the countries of entry such as Italy, Greece and Spain. Currently, it is a failure of European systems.
What about the agreement between the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the Tunisian President with the aim of slowing down the arrival of migrants?
It’s a fail. The vast majority of people who arrive in Italy today come from Tunisia. These are migrants who have been in Tunisia for years and who are now being expelled from this country.
What should we say to Italy which is asking for more aid from the European Union?
This is why we need to put in place a relocation mechanism. As long as we do not have this system put in place at European level, we will have overloaded countries and hot spots with unworthy reception conditions and outside of all European texts. There is a real problem of European solidarity that must be resolved and the EStates are getting much more involved. We make migrants the scapegoats for all the crises we encounter at home. We focus on migration, but is it migration that is responsible in France for the bankruptcy of the health system,Enational education, climate change, inflation? No, but we make them responsible by saying that we don’t welcome everyone. I remind you that 87% of migrations take place in countries bordering those left. We welcome a small part of these economic migrations, linked to totalitarian powers. We are facing enormous humanitarian tragedies if the EMember States are not showing more solidarity towards the countries of first entry.