“Today’s debate within the European Union Foreign Affairs Council was positive,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, when exiting the meeting. He went on: “The initiative promoted by Italy and Malta to have a thorough debate on migration was unanimously appreciated and enabled the Foreign Ministers, after a comprehensive exchange of views, to agree on numerous points brought to their attention.” Today’s Foreign Ministers meeting was not empowered to take operating decisions but was tasked with giving a possible orientation. In particular, broad agreement was reached on the opportunity of taking a structured approach in addressing the most relevant aspects of migration flows through permanent mechanisms. Moreover, many ministers supported the proposal of allocating larger resources to the EU budget to dedicate to governing migration, and especially to make significant investments in the Countries of origin and transit of migration flows. The Foreign Ministers also welcomed the idea of enhancing the effectiveness of the agreements with originating States on the return of migrants who have reached Europe with no right to remain there by further involving EU institutions and funds. As the competence over migration mostly falls within the scope of the Ministers of the Interior, the issue now passes to their scrutiny at their upcoming meeting of 17 and 18 July. The scheduling of today’s meeting and of that of the Ministers of the Interior, in parallel with the inauguration of the new European legislature, offers an important opportunity to bring about significant change in a subject that is very important to public opinion and that the European Council placed among the strategic priorities for the next few months.
