Luxembourg's Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Minister for Immigration and Asylum, Jean Asselborn, together with the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, will travel to Italy and Greece on 9 and 10 October 2015.
The visits are taking place as part of the European response to the migration crisis and the decisions taken in that regard by the Justice and Home Affairs Council of September 2015.
In Rome, Jean Asselborn and Dimitris Avramopoulos will meet Italy's Minister for the Interior, Angelino Alfano, in order to review the situation on the ground and to focus on the implementation of the relocation initiative.
Together they will then travel to the island of Lampedusa in order to visit the First Reception Centre for migrants, one of four operational "hotspots" in Italy. Jean Asselborn and Dimitris Avramopoulos will also meet 21 refugees there who are the first people to have been relocated to Sweden from Italy, pursuant to the relocation initiative.
In Greece, Jean Asselborn and Dimitris Avramopoulos will meet the Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, Minister for Governmental Coordination, Alekos Flambouraris, Minister for Shipping and Island Policy, Theodoros Dritsas, Alternate Minister for Immigration Policy, Yannis Mouzalas, and Alternate Minister for Public Order, Nikos Toskas.
In particular, the meetings in Athens will make it possible to focus on the implementation of the relocation initiative in Greece and the management of the migration crisis on the islands of the Mediterranean.
Press release from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs