Italy has repeatedly threatened a blockade - but now the country wants to continue to receive from ships of the EU naval mission "Sophia" rescued refugees from the sea. That's what the government in Rome promised - at least for a transitional phase.
The promise goes as far as the EU's reorientation of the mission, which should take place within the next five weeks, said Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi after a meeting with Heiko Maas in Berlin. The Federal Foreign Minister was relieved after the conversation with his counterpart.
So far 50,000 people saved
With the EU Maritime Mission off the Libyan coast, which also includes ships of the German Navy, the EU wants to arrest primarily smugglers in the Mediterranean. If the smuggling business is destroyed, fewer people will die from crossing the Mediterranean Sea, the EU hopes. In addition, "Sophia" should also take care of the training of the Libyan Coast Guard and monitor the arms embargo of the United Nations before Libya.
The EU ships, however, repeatedly take up refugees who have fallen into distress. These have been brought ashore in Italy.
Since 2015, the soldiers have rescued nearly 50,000 shipwrecked from the Mediterranean. The Italian government now demands a distribution of refugees to other EU countries, but does not fundamentally question its use.
"Operation is not endangered in structure"
The German ship "Mosel" set sail again on Monday after a long stay in a port of the Greek island of Crete. Foreign Minister Maas said that they wanted to "step by step" seek a long-term solution with Italy.
He welcomed the fact that the Italian government wants to continue the operation as transitional as before. "Because that ultimately means that this operation is not compromised in its structure, and that has been an important and good piece of information."
"It's not about a new mission Sophia, it's about the operational rules," said Moavero Milanesi. He hopes for a "balanced result" of the upcoming discussions.
Crisis talks with EU partners
The Italian government had recently threatened not to resettle rescued migrants. In order to prevent EU vessels from taking migrants on board who can not land anywhere, Italian "Sophia" mission leader Enrico Credendino ordered last week that all ships involved in the operation leave before Monday withdraw from the area of operation and enter ports.
The other EU member states then told Italy after crisis talks to agree a new strategy for dealing with rescued migrants in the next five weeks.