NAN – The European Commission has given the green light to the proposal to tackle the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.
Federica Mogherini, High Representative for EU foreign policies, said on Thursday, May 13, 2015 in Rome that the proposal would provide a “structural, long-term and integrated” answer to the emergency.
She said the proposal include trebling funds for Frontex, the EU agency that manages border guards.
She said the commission would also take temporary measure to redistribute asylum seekers already in the EU between member states
Mogherini said it had become mandatory that all EU states contributing most to dealing with the emergency would receive extra 60 million euros.
She said that under EU treaty rules, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark would be allowed to opt out of the quota system.
The EU high representative said the measure which would commence at the end of May, was aimed at reducing the burden on countries like Italy.
She said the redistribution was based on GDP, employment, population and the number of asylum seekers already accepted by a country.
She said Germany would take the largest share of asylum seekers, followed by France and Italy.
“Italy will take 9.94 per cent of refugees from camps and 11.84 per cent of asylum seekers already in the EU.
“This is a historic day for Italy because finally a responsibility that has so far been almost exclusively Italian becomes European,” she said.
Mogherini however ruled out the possibility of military intervention in Libya.
“We are not planning any ground operation in Libya, only a naval operation with the Libyan authorities to dismantle the network of human traffickers,’’ she said.
