Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Friday that the authorities had to be uncompromising in combatting human traffickers after last weekend's migrant-boat disaster in which over 700 people are feared to have died. "We have to be united in our commitment to humanitarian rescues and to an inflexible fight against traffickers of human beings and against terrorism," the head of State said. At an emergency summit on Thursday, EU leaders agreed to triple funding for search-and-rescue operations for migrant boats in the Mediterranean. The leaders also agreed to look at ways to capture and destroy smugglers' boats before they depart.
But Italy's request for more equal sharing of the burden of coping with the migrants and refugees among EU member States was not satisfied.
The "operational area" of the EU's Triton border-patrol and rescue mission will be extended after its resources and units are strengthened under a new EU accord, European Commission spokesperson Natasha Bernaud said Friday. She did not specify how this would happen because "the decision is up to Italy and (EU border agency) Frontex". The geographical extension, beyond 30 nautical miles from coastlines, "has nothing to do with the mandate," she said.
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