EU ministers to discuss migrant crisis next week

Interior ministers will hold talks on an issue that has long been simmering in the bloc

Migrants during a rescue operation by the Ocean Viking off the coast of Libya in February 2020. Reuters

EU interior ministers will meet next week to discuss the migrant crisis, officials announced on Thursday, after a row erupted between France and Italy over the arrival of migrants rescued at sea.

An extraordinary meeting of the Home Affairs council will take place on November 25 in an attempt to resolve the dispute, diplomats in Brussels said.

"Ministers will address the current situation in all migratory routes," the EU's Czech presidency said.

The advent of a new, far-right-led government in Italy with a hardline stance on migration has focused new attention on the issue, which has long been simmering in the EU.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants other EU nations to take in more irregular migrants and appears ready to force the issue to the top of the European agenda.

Her country — along with Cyprus, Greece and Malta — is unhappy that a voluntary European system to manage migrant flows is not doing enough to take the pressure off them.

Migrant crossings on the English Channel surge amid heatwave - in pictures

The number of migrants crossing the English Channel from northern Europe has reached record-breaking figures as people in Britain are experiencing an exceptionally hot summer. PA

A lady carries a toddler to a bus after a group of people thought to be migrants were brought in to Dover, Kent, on the south-east English coast. PA

A group of migrants are brought in to Ramsgate, Kent, on August 1 - the day on which almost 700 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day, a record for the year so far. PA

It was only the second time in 2022 that the daily figure has topped 600. PA

A woman carries a newborn baby in a life cradle as she is brought in to Dover on a Border Force vessel in July. PA

About 3,683 migrants made the crossing on 90 boats in July, the highest monthly total this year. PA

A warehouse in Dover for boats used by people trying to cross the Channel. PA

Migrants hold up an inflatable boat before attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, near the northern French city of Gravelines, in July. AFP

A police officer stands guard on the beach at Dungeness, England, as migrants get off a lifeboat after they were picked up at sea in June. AFP

A group of people thought to be migrants walk up the beach after being brought in to Dungeness in May. AP

Migrants on the beach at Dungeness, after crossing the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy in January. Reuters

This month Italy refused access to a charity rescue ship, the Ocean Viking, carrying 234 migrants saved from the Mediterranean.

France allowed the vessel to dock at its port city of Toulon, but suspended a plan to take 3,500 refugees currently in Italy, under the European distribution pact.

Ms Meloni hit back, calling France's response "aggressive" and "unjustified".

France has so far also rejected asylum applications from 44 of the 234 migrants who landed in Toulon and says they will be returned to their countries of origin.

Of those allowed to stay, France and Germany will take in about a third, with the rest going to other EU nations who have volunteered.

Migration into the EU through other routes, particularly the western Balkans, is also concerning EU member states.

Migrant children rescued in French waters - in pictures

Migrants are rescued by crew members of the 'Abeille Languedoc' ship after their boat's generator broke down in French waters as they were trying to cross the Channel illegally to Britain. All photos: AFP

Migrants wait for help in the Channel.

A child is rescued by crew members of the 'Abeille Languedoc'.

The 'Abeille Languedoc' is an ocean-going tug specialising in the rescue of vessels in distress.

Migrant children on the rescue boat.

The 'Abeille Languedoc' has been moored in Cherbourg for 26 years, monitoring the Channel between the Cotentin and the Pas-de-Calais.

Migrants sit on board the 'Abeille Languedoc' after being rescued.

A rescuer carries a child as they disembark from the 'Abeille Languedoc'.

After criticism from Brussels that Serbia, a non-EU country that borders the bloc, was a staging ground for irregular migrants seeking to enter the EU, Belgrade said it would tighten its visa policy.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday that Tunisians and Burundians would now need visas to enter his country.

The European Commission last month warned it was not ruling out scrapping visa-waiver access for Serbians if Belgrade did not act on irregular migration.

Meanwhile, more than half of the 44 minors who were on board the Ocean Viking refugee rescue ship have fled from the French social service agencies taking care of them, authorities said on Thursday.

On Thursday, the Var prefecture said that 26 of the 44 minors on the ship had fled the Toulon hotel where they had been housed.

It said the children who left were mainly Eritreans who preferred to join relatives in other European countries, including the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany.

The children were not locked up and were free to go where they wanted. The adults who were aboard the ship, operated by Doctors without Borders (MSF), are held in a social centre and are not allowed to leave.

Migrant ship docks in France after Italy refuses entry - video

The prefecture said that social service agencies would continue to provide temporary shelter, medical care and schooling for the remaining Ocean Viking minors in its care.

Last week, the Var region prefect said the migrants would be sent to a holding site where they would be given medical care and their asylum requests processed.

Those not deemed eligible to stay would be returned to their home countries.