EC support to Italy on coping with migratory pressure on Lampedusa

The European Commission is stepping up its assistance to Italy to deal with the current high migratory pressures in Lampedusa. A number of important measures have been pledged.

* The Frontex Joint Operation Triton will be extended until at least the end of 2015.
* The European Commission has awarded an amount of ?13.7 million in emergency funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) to Italy.
* The European Commission stands ready to react quickly to any Italian request to increase the resources of Joint Operation Triton.
* The Commission is also stepping up its surveillance of the implementation of the recommendations of the Mediterranean Task Force and will report back to the March Home Affairs Council on progress made.

A speech was made concerning this by EU Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos

I have come to talk to you today about a reality that is becoming ever starker: Europe needs to manage migration better.Thousands of lives were lost in the Mediterranean over the past few years.

We have to be honest here: people will continue to come as long as they are not safe at home, and as long as they have no perspective there.The dark side of this is also that organized criminal networks involved in smuggling and trafficking in human beings will continue to abuse and profit from this situation.

The Italian coast guard officers who were threatened at gun point by armed criminals last week are a woeful example of the recklessness of those criminals. We cannot turn a blind eye. And we cannot carry on as if it were business as usual. First of all, I want to strongly commend the Italian coast guard and those from other Member States involved in...