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Added on the 10/12/2018 12:11:58 - Copyright : France 24 EN
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hails the EU parliament's adoption of a contentious asylum policy reform as a "huge achievement for Europe". The parliament's main political groups overcame opposition from far-right and far-left parties to pass the new migration and asylum pact -- a sweeping reform nearly a decade in the making. SOUNDBITE
The EU is to start releasing money to Tunisia under a pact aimed at stemming irregular migration from the country, says the EU spokesperson, Ana Pisonero. "The Commission is today announcing 60 million euros in budget support for Tunisia," she says during a press conference in Brussels, Belgium. SOUNDBITE
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni visit Lampedusa following a recent surge in migrant arrivals to the small Italian island. During her visit, von der Leyen said irregular migration was a "European challenge" needing a "European answer", offering a 10-point plan to help Rome deal with the crisis. This week a record of around 8,500 people -- more than the island's entire local population -- have arrived in around 200 boats, according to the UN migration agency. IMAGES
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, says the moment should be seized to form a new "founding pact" between democratic powers. SOUNDBITE
La Restinga (El Hierro, Spain), Dec 29 (EFE) .- (Camera: Gelmert Finol) A dinghy with 54 immigrants of Senegalese origin arrived on Tuesday at the port of La Restinga, on the island of El Hierro, Spain.FOOTAGE OF THE PORT AND THE MIGRANTS.
Tunis, Dec 15 (EFE) .- (Camera: Natalia Román) "Last night I slept in Lampedusa" has meant for almost five years a victory for thousands of sub-Saharan Africans who challenge the desert, distance, violence and brutality in a desperate attempt to regain their dignity usurped by poverty and repression.SOOUNDBITES AND TRANSLATIONS OF:- Romdhane Ben Amor. Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights: This democratic transition has been limited only to the political question, but there is no economic or social transition. In July about 4,000 Tunisians managed to reach the Italian coast in a single month. We return again to the figures of 2011 due to the root causes that push people to emigrate and that are amplified ten years after the revolution. For us, this is a failure. - Mabrouka Houachi: They have arrested my husband as if he were a terrorist. A murderer is released and a person who goes abroad to heal his son is imprisoned. I find myself lost with my children and I have to beg from one mosque to another.He is my oldest son, nobody takes care of him. I am ready for anything. Even to sell my kidney or both if necessary.I say to God: it is the only thing I have left. It depends on him if I manage to get there or if I will be eaten by the fish. My life will be meaningless. - Lamine Hamed Othmane. Asylum seeker: I have no future or income, I have nothing. I left my country (Sudan) with only one objective, I was against the Government. I had a future but I lost it when I left the country. I went to Libya, then to Tunisia, three, four, five years went by ... I lost a lot of time. What is left of my life?
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