In Rome, the German Chancellor discussed with the Italian Prime Minister a further plan for the reception of refugees, and also criticized the controversial cooperation with Libya.
Angela Merkel believes that conflicting cooperation with the Libyan coast guard needs to be improved.
“And, of course, in this matter (…) there are reasonable standards that are not in Libya, we are working on it”. She also said care should be taken not to endanger migrants.
Libya is one of the main transit countries for African refugees traveling to Europe. The EU supports Libyans in their efforts to return migrants back to their homeland.
The distribution of migrants saved from disaster has not yet reached its goal in Europe, Merkel admitted.
“Much remains to be done to achieve a fair distribution of people throughout Europe”.
More willing states are needed to take part in the distribution of refugees.
“We cannot discuss these things again and again, step by step”.
In September, Home Secretary Horst Seehofer spoke at a meeting in Malta regarding an agreement under which countries such as Germany or France would accept migrants from ships or lifeboats. However, this agreement has not yet been implemented. For this reason, ships with rescued migrants still have to wait several days before entering the port.