Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has told a group of Mediterranean countries known as Med 5 that managing migration will benefit the whole of Europe and not just the 'frontline states'.
Speaking at a meeting with officials of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain, Pientedosi said "the real solution to deal with the challenge of migration must be sought in the prevention of departures through a solid strategy of cooperation with third countries."
He went on to say that, "together, we have worked hard to ensure that the external dimension would be considered a fundamental part of the Pact on Migration and Asylum", adding that it "continues to be a central point of today's joint statement."
Europe must provide funding
"However, now the time has come to prepare for the implementation phase" of the new rules with the "awareness that our countries remain more exposed to the implementation of border procedures," Piantedosi noted.
"For this reason, we must insist at a European level to obtain adequate funding for countries on the frontline" of immigration and "tailor-made approaches taking into account the concrete situations which single Member States will need to deal with," he added.
The minister said that the "excellent work and collaboration" between Med 5 countries "will continue not just in the implementation of the Pact but also in the promotion of the message that managing the migration phenomenon must not be considered a contribution of solidarity of some Member States but a benefit for the entire European Union."
Med 5 priorities
The Med 5 meeting of interior ministers and migration ministers was held amid tight security at the Hotel Santa Catalina in Las Palmas. The gathering, hosted by Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, focused on the implementation of the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and on the external dimension of migration and funding.
According to data published by EU border agency Frontex, 41,672 irregular migrants reached the EU by sea in the first trimester of this year.
They included 13,535 people who took the route from Africa to the Canary Islands, 13,716 who took the eastern Mediterranean route (Greece and Cyprus), 11,364 who crossed the central Mediterranean (Italy and Malta) and 3,057 who followed the western Mediterranean route across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea.