Gianni Pittella, President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, along with Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume, and S&D Spokesperson for Civil Liberties and Home Affairs Birgit Sippel, will meet French Home Affairs minister Bernard Cazeneuve tomorrow in Paris. They will discuss and coordinate common responses to the European migration crisis ahead of the upcoming EU Council. A press point is foreseen at the entrance of the Interior ministry at the end of the meeting, around 11:15 AM.
The mission to Paris is part of a broader strategy of the S&D Group President aiming to build a positive common approach between progressive forces ahead the Council. Further contacts and meeting between EU officials and relevant national authorities will follow.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Pittella said:
"Every morning we wake up to a new tragedy, from stories of refugees found dead in a lorry in Austria to the heart-breaking pictures of a boy washed up on a beach in Turkey. The failure of some national governments to show solidarity between themselves and towards refugees has directly contributed to these tragedies. We have called for a long time to scrap the Dublin regulation and replace it with a common European asylum and anti-trafficking policy. Only when refugees have a safe and legal way of reaching Europe will they no longer be forced to make these perilous and often fatal journeys."
"We find the current false propaganda seeking to demonise every refugee as a potential terrorist abhorrent. Refugees are first and foremost human beings who need humanitarian help as clearly stated in international laws."
"The European Commission has put forward strong proposals, what we need now is for national governments to stop just commenting about the tragedies the day after and instead act before new ones can happen."
