EU parliament passes resolution on migrants

(ANSA) – Strasbourg, October 23 – The European Parliament on Wednesday approved a bipartisan resolution on migrant flows in the Mediterranean after the October 3 boat disaster off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa that killed 366 Syrians, Eritreans and Somalis.

The resolution calls for “modifying or revising laws that could impose sanctions on those who offer assistance at sea,” which is an implicit reference to Italy’s current Bossi-Fini migrant law, which makes it a crime to be an undocumented migrant.

The law also formally envisages penalties for people who help seaborne migrants, because in so doing they are abetting people trafficking, but such sanctions have never been applied.