A year ago, the Council of Europe issued recommendations to Italy concerning its management of migration issues. There has been no response.
A year after the Council of Europe offered to assist Italy in managing migration flows, the country had not yet given any sort of response on some of the recommendations contained in a report by the body's special envoy for migration and refugees.
The recommendations were based on a visit by the envoy to Italy in October 2016.
Discussions continue
The news came in the first document that was aimed at taking stock of the first two years of Special Representative Thomas Bocek's mandate. The document stressed that Italy is one of the six Council of Europe member states that has financially supported the office of the special representative.
The document lists the activities started in Greece, Macedonia and Turkey, which were the first countries visited by Bocek, in March and June of 2016. The special representative underscored that he would continue to engage in talks with the Italian government in 2018 on possible activities to meet the recommendations contained in the report.
Report listed ways to improve refugee reception
In his report on Italy, published on March 8, 2017, Bocek listed 19 possible support activities to improve asylum seeker and refugee reception. Among the proposals was a recommendation to mobilize financial resources to help the authorities build additional facilities for migrants and refugees.