PRESS RELEASE BY THE MINISTRY FOR HOME AFFAIRS AND SECURITY Malta, Italy, Cyprus, and Greece strengthen regional coordination on irregular migration

At the invitation of Italy's Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, the Minister for Home Affairs and Security, Glenn Bedingfield, together with the Cypriot Minister of Migration and International Protection, Nicholas Ioannides, and the Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum, Athanasios Plevris, met yesterday in Rome to discuss irregular migration and regional coordination.

The meeting — an initiative announced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during the Cyprus Summit last April — focused on developing new shared strategies to be presented at the European level, with the goal of preventing potential migratory crises linked to the current geopolitical instability in the Middle East.

The ministers emphasised the urgent need to strengthen investigative cooperation to identify and disrupt smuggling networks. They also reaffirmed that search and rescue operations at sea are the exclusive competence of States, noting concerns that the presence of NGOs in certain maritime areas could act as a pull factor for irregular departures from North Africa.

The ministers also agreed on a number of additional priorities, including:

•             Combating abuse of the asylum system — ensuring that the right to asylum is protected while preventing its exploitation;

•             Promoting assisted voluntary return — supporting repatriation programs from transit countries to countries of origin; and

•             Strengthening EU external border protection — enhancing operational capacity and coordination to safeguard the Union's frontiers.

To reinforce cooperation, the ministers agreed to establish a network of national contact points tasked with preventing irregular migratory flows and enabling rapid, coordinated responses in the event of migration-related emergencies.