Subscribe here: [ Ссылка ] Russia poses a major threat to the security of the European Union. Among other things, Moscow can also use illegal immigration, states Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni quoted by Reuters.
“We have to understand the threat is much wider than we imagine,” Meloni said.
According to her, the threat to the EU's security from Russia or elsewhere will not stop after the conflict in Ukraine is over, and the EU should be prepared for this.
“It's about our democracy, it's about influencing our public opinion, it's about what happens in Africa, it's about raw materials, it's about the instrumentalization of migration. We need to know it's a very wide idea of security,” the prime minister said.
She called on the EU to do more to protect its borders and not allow Russia or any “criminal organization” to control the flow of illegal migrants.
Several EU members, including Finland and Estonia, have accused Russia of allowing illegal migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to enter EU countries through Russia without proper checks, undermining EU security.
EU sanctions against Russia
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the EU has been constantly increasing pressure on Russia.
In particular, on December 15, the European Union introduced the 15th package of sanctions against Russia. The sanctions list includes 54 individuals and 30 organizations from Russia, China, and the DPRK.
The EU imposed sanctions against the Russian shadow fleet, the Russian military involved in the attack on Okhmatdyt, the management of companies in the energy sector, and those responsible for deporting children, propaganda, and circumventing sanctions.
The other day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU had already started working on the 16th package of sanctions against Russia.
Premier Giorgia Meloni on Sunday highlighted the commitment to defend external borders and said Russia or criminal organizations would not be allowed to undermine security, speaking at the end of the North-South Summit on European security and defence in Saariselkä, in the Finnish region of Lapland.
"We want to defend external borders and we don't want to allow Russia or criminal organizations to undermine our security", said Meloni.
The gathering was hosted by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and attended, in addition to Meloni, by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, Greek Prime Minister Kyriákos Mitsotakis and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Meloni went on to say that the EU is dealing with "great challenges".
"Our countries have often been considered and have found themselves on opposite sides within the EU, with the North and the so-called frugal on one side and the nations of the South accused of being spendthrifts, something I believe is a prejudice, on the other.
"These nations are now here to talk about the theme of security, and this shows that we have understood that the world has changed and we can't deal with challenges if we don't understand the point of view and problems of others", she noted.
On Albania and new Italian processing centres for asylum seekers Italy has built in the country as part of an agreement between Rome and Tirana, Meloni said she has "summoned for tomorrow a meeting on the theme of Albania to understand how to proceed", answering to a reporter's question.
Italian judges have so far not validated the detention of two groups of asylum seekers taken to Albania, referring their cases to the European Court of Justice - which had earlier established that an applicant could not go through a fast-track procedure that could lead to their repatriation if their country of provenance was not deemed wholly safe - even after the cabinet in late October issued a decree listing 19 safe countries for repatriation.
The European Court of Justice is set to rule on the referrals in January.
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