Italy’s new foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, in a speech on Rai TV on Monday evening, referred to the Immigration and Refugee Authority, emphasizing that Greece’s borders are also Europe’s.

“Italy must have the support of Europe, because migration is a big issue that needs to be addressed at the EU level. There is not only a flow of migrants from Africa to the Mediterranean and Italy, there is also a Balkan flow that passes through Greece and then heads to North Macedonia and northern Europe, also touching the eastern borders of Italy,” Mr. Tajani said.

“The whole of Europe should sit down at the table and decide what they want to do,” he added.

According to the head of Italian diplomacy, “non-governmental organizations [ΜΚΟ] they behave in a somewhat special way: they save the lives of people at sea, and they do it well. But then they bring them all to Italian ports.” “Italy welcomes everyone who has problems: children, the sick, women … But there are problems with the rest, because illegal immigration is a violation of the law,” said Antonio Tajani Rayu.

He stressed that Italy intends to sign a new memorandum of cooperation in the field of immigration with Libya in order to resolve the issue in its origins. “Remove the engines from the boats that carry immigrants to stop the actions of the slavers who are the real criminals.”

“In Europe, not everyone knows that this is not only a European, but also an Italian border. In the same way, the borders of Greece are not only the borders of Greece, but also the southeastern borders of Europe, the entire European Union. The same applies to Spain,” said the Italian Foreign Minister.

Source: RES-IPE