They may have different, and even conflicting, political sensitivities, but they share the same problem as countries of first entry on the southern border of the European Union: the enormous pressure of irregular migration.
A humanitarian, social, political and economic drama, with special incidence now in the eastern Mediterranean, given the drastic reduction in migratory flows on the Atlantic route from Morocco to Spain. Before the Spanish presidency of the community club, which starts on July 1, Pedro Sánchez began yesterday in Nicosia with the president of Cyprus, the conservative Nikos Jristodulidis, a Mediterranean mini-tour that in the afternoon took him to Valletta with the first Minister of Malta, the progressive Robert Abela, and which will culminate this Wednesday in Rome with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the post-fascist formation Brothers of Italy, in the first bilateral meeting between the two.
Among the objectives of the Spanish president is to make progress during his European semester in the difficult migration and asylum pact of the European Union. And for this he advocates breaking the block dynamics between the north and the south. It may be an impossible mission, but Sánchez is willing to try to fit all the pieces of this complex puzzle.
“It is necessary to advance in the European migration and asylum pact, both externally, increasing our collaboration with the countries of origin and transit, and internally, guaranteeing the balance between responsibility and solidarity”, defended Sánchez in his first stop of the day, in Nicosia. “We are determined to address this phenomenon for the benefit of all European countries, building bridges in order to establish pacts and avoiding establishing a policy of blocsâ€, he assured. And he called for the Mediterranean to be “a sea of ​​peace, stability and prosperity”.
Among its priorities is achieving an inclusive agreement, which satisfies both the countries of first arrival and those of destination, which is in solidarity with the states that are the border of the European Union and which, at the same time, puts humanitarian aspects before the reception of migrants and promote cooperation programs with the countries of origin and transit of irregular migration.
Cyprus is now especially suffering from migratory pressure. But the Cypriot president also called on Sánchez to mediate with Turkey to advance a resolution of the territorial conflict that divides the island. And Sánchez showed him support to find “a negotiated and definitive solution to the Cypriot question.”
