Europe Pledges Aid to Italy for Refugees

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/world/europe/europe-pledges-aid-to-italy-for-refugees.html

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ROME — The European Union’s top official on Wednesday visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, where a crowded boat capsized last week, killing hundreds of migrants, and announced that Italy would receive an additional 30 million euros, or $40.5 million, from the union to help deal with refugees.

“I am here to say that Europe is with the people here on Lampedusa and with Italy,” said José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission. “We will do anything we can, with the means that we have, to change the situation.”

A day after European interior ministers agreed in principle to expand patrols across the Mediterranean, from Spain to Cyprus, Mr. Barroso pledged to work “tirelessly” to enhance an European Union-wide migration and asylum policy. He also said that Frontex, the European Union border security agency, would be strengthened to detect migrants’ boats quickly and more efficiently and thus prevent future shipwrecks.

Mr. Barroso and Cecilia Malmstrom, the union’s commissioner for home affairs, visited the island on Wednesday with Italy’s prime minister, Enrico Letta, who announced a state funeral for the shipwreck victims.

The visit prompted protests on the seven-square-mile Mediterranean island, which is closer to Tunisia than to Italy. It is a frontier post whose shores have long received thousands of migrants sailing from North Africa and has often complained of being forgotten by both Italy and the European Union.

Residents shouted “Assassins!” “Clowns!” and “Shame!” and showed pictures of migrants perched on ratty fishing boats, as Mr. Barroso, Ms. Malmstrom and Mr. Letta arrived at the airport. The protests continued outside City Hall, where the mayor of Lampedusa, Giusi Nicolini, met the officials.

“They come here on their state flights,” said one resident who was on one of the fishing boats that rescued dozens of migrants last Thursday. “Why didn’t they send military aircrafts to pick up the migrants at sea?”

Many residents complained about the crowded conditions in the local reception center, where the shipwreck survivors have been housed since the accident. This week, some migrants had to sleep outside in the rain because there was no space inside.

“Lampedusa will keep doing its part,” said Ms. Nicolini, adding that many residents had offered to host the migrants. “But we need to think of new ways for migrants to seek asylum before they get on the boats.”

The Italian authorities have so far retrieved 301 bodies from the smugglers’ boat, which caught fire and sank just a quarter-mile off the island. Of the estimated 500 people on board, only 155 survived.

After visiting the airport hangar, where hundreds of coffins have been arranged in rows, Mr. Barroso said he was “profoundly shocked” and saddened by the view, especially the little coffins for children.

“The image of hundreds of coffins will never get out of my mind,” he told reporters. “One thing is to watch it on the newscast, and one thing to see it with your own eyes.” Acknowledging that countries like Italy and Greece welcome migrants, Mr. Barroso noted that five countries — Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Sweden — receive 70 percent of the 330,000 asylum applications in Europe. He also called for more burden-sharing among European Union member states.

Mr. Barroso also said that Europe needed to increase cooperation with the countries from which migrants originate. Ms. Malmstrom went even further, saying new avenues for legal migration and refugee resettlement were needed.

“Possibilities for humanitarian visas need to be explored,” she said, emphasizing that the restrictive approach has proved its limits. “We need to change our approach to migration.”