Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Integration, Legislation

Angelino Alfano.

Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser affirmed Estonia's support of Italy in relation to migration pressure at a meeting with Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano, reports LETA/BNS.

Mikser met with Alfano ahead of a high-level migration conference in Rome on Thursday, the Estonian Foreign Ministry told BNS. The minister affirmed the good relations between Estonia and Italy and close cooperation in the European Union and NATO.

Mikser told Alfano that Estonia as the EU presidency is committed to questions concerning migration and said that Italy has had to carry a very large part of the joint burden of the migration crisis. "We have recently carried out an extraordinary allocation of one million euros to the European Union Trust Fund for Africa in order to help stop the migration pressure from Libya," Mikser said. He affirmed that in addition to Greece, Estonia is continually ready to start the relocation of refugees from Italy as well.

Alfano emphasized the need for further cooperation with the migration transit countries in Africa and said that the migration conference taking place in Rome is a good platform for that.

Approximately 80,000 illegal immigrants have reached Italy from Libya in the first six months of this year, which makes up 85 percent of all illegal immigration to the EU this year. The migration pressure has reached such intensity in the past few weeks that Italy is no longer able to receive all refugees. The situation will also be discussed at a meeting of the interior and justice ministers of the European Union, which is to take place in Tallinn on Thursday.