Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Benedetto Della Vedova met today at the foreign ministry in Rome with Bavarian Minister for European Questions and Regional Integration Beate Merk. The meeting brought out a convergence of viewpoints with the German Land on the topic of migrants and asylum requests – one of the Italian EU presidency’s priority concerns – and instruments for confronting an emergency that has also touched Bavaria in recent weeks with a notable increase in the influx of migrants.
“We agreed on the need for a common stance on the Mediterranean and the advisability of a European mechanism for sharing the burden of reception”, Della Vedova said. Also discussed were the EU’s external borders and the imminent launch of the “Triton” search and rescue operation under the aegis of Frontex, as well as new efforts at dialogue with the countries of origin and transit, including those of eastern Africa. “In late November”, Della Vedova announced, “we will be organising a migration conference in Rome from which an initiative proposed by the EU Presidency of the EU with the countries of the Horn of Africa will be launched. With a view to the integration and better management of migration flows”, he pointed out, “the Italian government intends to promote a law regarding the citizenship of children born in Italy of foreign parents who have completed at least one scholastic cycle in our country”. Finally, the Under-Secretary and the Bavarian minister discussed the adoption of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region to take place in Milan on the 1st and 2nd of December.
