EU interior ministers discuss migration, foreign fighters

BRUSSELS, Oct 9 (KUNA) -- EU interior ministers had an in-depth discussion on foreign fighters, as well as on the issue of migration during their meeting in Luxembourg Thursday.
"We had two major discussions, the issue of foreign fighters, the return of EU nationals from conflict zones. This has been a real threat for many European countries," EU Commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmstrom told a news conference after the meeting.
On migration, she said that "one year after the tragic event in Lampedusa, a lot of things have been done but the migratory pressure is till immense because of the conflicts in our neighbourhood." "We receive thousands of arrivals every day to Italy but also to many other countries and this is not likely to diminish very soon. So we need to work in a very broad spectrum," she said.
On his part, Italian interior minister Angelino Alfano, said "we want to press ahead with the idea which to create a multinational team hosted by Europol. This multinational team will be made up of counter-terrorism contact points are specialised in dealing with foreign fighters and experts on monitoring internet websites." Alfano chaired today's meeting as Italy holds the current EU Presidency.
Gilles de Kerchove, EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator, told the same press conference that "we may be facing soon huge returns from Syria and Iraq. Air strikes may have the impact to give incentive for more return and therefore we have to be ready to detect returns and be prepared." He said there "was a broad consensus to act now, take all possible decision now in order to be more effective in detecting suspicious travel (to Syria and Iraq)." (end) nk.sd