By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – Italy expressed its support Thursday for the inclusion of the issue of irregular migration on the agenda of the European Political Community summit in the UK.
“It is the first time that the challenge of managing migratory flows has entered the agenda of the work of the European Political Community and that a specific roundtable has been dedicated to it, which I am very happy to have co-chaired together with my Albanian counterpart Edi Rama at today's summit at Blenheim Palace in the UK,” said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
She said dealing with the issue of irregular migration requires a joint endeavor and called for intensifying the struggle against human trafficking, which she referred to as a modern form of slavery, as well as addressing the root causes of migration.
“It is essential that we never lose sight of the centrality we must give to the external dimension, just as we must not be afraid to explore innovative solutions, such as the one we have started with the Italy-Albania Protocol,” Meloni said.
In a separate post on X, Meloni said her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, which belongs to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) alliance in the European Parliament, did not vote in support of the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president in voting earlier in the day “to be consistent” with their previously stated views and objections.
She added, however, that this would not compromise the role of Italy, a founding member of the European Union and one of its biggest economies, within the bloc.
Von der Leyen won support from lawmakers for a second term as the head of the commission, the executive arm of the EU.
The 720-member European Parliament approved her candidacy in a 401-284 vote. There were 15 abstentions and seven voided votes.
The 65-year-old conservative politician first took office as president of the European Commission on Dec. 1, 2019.