The president of the S&D Group in the European Gianni Pittella has labelled the outcomes of the Valletta summit on the migration and the refugee crisis a mixed blessing.
 
S&D president Gianni Pittella said:
 
"The glass is half full after the special Valletta summit. Finally the EU and member states have recognised that we need a common and coordinated response to the refugee crisis. They see that we need to engage with non-EU parties, especially but not only Turkey, in order to tackle it effectively. This is the right approach but we must make clear that defence of human rights and freedom of the press are non-negotiable principles for us.
 
"We believe that this new approach of cooperation with non-EU actors should be enlarged to include Libya, Lebanon and major African countries, all of whom have a role to play in the stabilisation of the region and in controlling the flow of migrants and refugees. 
 
"Last but least, we reiterate the EU Commission and the Council not to insist on the intergovernmental approach in designing the financial support mechanism for Turkey. The ad-hoc fund should then be supervised by the European Parliament in order to ensure the correct use of the funds."