Italy Sends Eritrean Migrants to Sweden
October 09 2015 - 7:10AM
Dow Jones News
ROME—Italian authorities sent a group of Eritrean migrants on a
charted plane bound for Sweden Friday, kicking off a bitterly
contested European Union plan aimed at redistributing migrants
around the region and gaining some control over the chaotic flows
of people across the continent.
Italian and EU officials saw off a group of 19 handpicked
Eritrean migrants who have agreed to move to Sweden, the first in a
plan to spread the burden of refugees who have flooded into Europe
over the last couple of years. Italian Interior Minister Angelino
Alfano and Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU's commissioner for
migration and home affairs, were present at Rome's Ciampino Airport
for the departure.
"This is a journey of hope," said Mr. Avramopolous. "This is the
first step, but let's move ahead."
In September, after rancorous debate, the EU agreed on a binding
plan to move 120,000 asylum seekers out of Italy and Greece—the two
countries on the front line of the wave of arrivals—and share the
burden by redistributing them among member states. This summer, the
EU agreed to redistribute a total of 40,000 asylum seekers on a
voluntary basis across the bloc.
The relocation plan is a cornerstone of an EU-wide response to
the spiraling migration crisis that has brought hundreds of
thousands of people to Italy and Greece so far this year. Recent
months have seen chaos and tension as hundreds of thousands of
migrants move across Europe in an effort to reach preferred
destinations such as Germany and Scandinavia, sometimes amid
dangerous circumstances. The success or failure of the first round
of relocations could determine whether the program is expanded into
a permanent system to manage a flow of migrants that shows no signs
of letting up.
Early Friday, a chartered flight ferried 19 Eritreans to Lulea
in northern Sweden, where they will stay for a few days before
likely being settled in the northwestern city of Ostersund. The
group is the first of nearly 40,000 asylum seekers from Italy to
other EU member states over the next two years. Friday's group
includes five women; all of the Eritreans had arrived by boat in
recent weeks, according to a statement by the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees. The UNHCR said further transfers will take
place at the beginning of next week.
"The relocation program is an important step forward towards the
stabilization of the European migrant crisis, even if much remains
to be done," said the statement.
Write to Giada Zampano at giada.zampano@wsj.com, Anna Molin at
anna.molin@wsj.com and Valentina Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 09, 2015 06:55 ET (10:55 GMT)
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