BRUSSELS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) is mulling regional schemes to disembark irregular migrants in North African countries.
The idea is the EU's latest attempt to ease migratory pressure which has fuelled divisions within Europe over the past three years.
European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, whose portfolio covers migration, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday in Brussels that the European Commission had been in talks with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on how to engage North African countries in such schemes.
Avramopoulos said the EU would provide financial and material support for North African countries willing to participate in the disembarkation schemes.
"We would like to intensify our cooperation with these countries, especially with Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Niger, and Morocco," he said.
"So far we have been receiving very positive signals. They have shown a strong will of cooperation," he said.
By Avramopoulos's account, the schemes are seen "as an agreement of countries around the Mediterranean to ensure people get the protection they need, and are treated with the dignity they deserve."
The commissioner insisted that the EU was not outsourcing responsibility to non-EU countries, but rather that it was about "ensuring that people are disembarked in safe places from which the UNHCR and IOM can operate, to ensure a resettlement to the EU for persons who are in genuine need of protection."
For those with no right to stay in Europe, he said, the schemes are about ensuring "voluntary returns with dignified integration packages."
The schemes are expected to feature on the agenda of an informal EU summit on Sunday.
