Finland and Italy join forces in the fight against the exploitation of migration

Farnesina –

Finland and Italy will implement joint initiatives aimed at promoting a coherent approach to the external dimension of migration policies and combating any type of illicit practice linked to the migration phenomenon.

The Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and the Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Antonio Tajani, had a meeting on 29 November in Brussels on the sidelines of the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers .
The two Ministers announced that Finland and Italy will implement joint initiatives aimed at promoting a coherent approach to the external dimension of migration policies and combating any type of illicit practice linked to the migration phenomenon, including human trafficking and the exploitation of migrants. These are shared challenges that extend from Northern to Southern Europe.
Finland and Italy will start working on a set of ideas to develop robust tools to strengthen the mechanisms put in place by NATO and the EU, including the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, to counter hybrid threats.
“Russia and other hostile actors exploit migration and mercilessly exploit citizens of third countries. Transatlantic resolve is key to countering such activities. Italy and Finland work together to achieve this goal within the framework of the EU and NATO,” said Minister Valtonen.
“We are extremely concerned about the growing number of irregular migrants, especially along the central Mediterranean route. It is possible that third-party actors are interested in exploiting these flows in order to destabilize our society and hinder common efforts made to manage immigration and asylum procedures. We need to put in place tools to prevent this from happening,” declared Minister Tajani.