Hostile third countries will continue to undermine Europe’s cohesion and common purpose by manipulating flows of illegal migrants into the EU, unless Member States and law enforcement bodies are empowered to act against this "hybrid conflict", Carlo Fidanza MEP told the European Parliament today.

Contributing to the debate on the conclusions of the European Council summit in late June, Fidanza said the focus of the EU heads of state and government on illegal migration was welcome but that the Union should adopt a more proactive approach to face down the “instrumentalisation of immigration.”

Fidanza said:

“The latest European Council was once again preceded by a summit on immigration chaired by Giorgia Meloni, together with colleagues from the Netherlands and Denmark.

“Immigration must not be tolerated but managed. We should move forward with combating irregular immigration, with agreements with non-EU countries, with the designation of safe third countries, and with accelerating repatriations.”

Referring to the recent expulsion from Libya of the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, Fidanza said:

“The instrumentalisation of immigration is one of the hybrid threats Europe faces, as we saw in Libya, where access was denied to Commissioner Brunner and three European ministers.

“This is also why, when we discuss our necessary defence investments, as we did at the Council and following the NATO summit, we must also consider those aimed at countering hybrid threats.

“Defending borders, protecting strategic infrastructure, and controlling critical raw materials means defending our freedom and sovereignty.”