Today’s European and US media outlets continue to report on the return of the migration crisis as the biggest issue confronting the European Union. Indeed, after Italy’s threat to close its ports to NGO vessels, the topic has returned to centre stage. In an editorial in De Standaard, Bart Sturtewagen even wonders if the EU is on the edge of a second asylum crisis.

In an interview with Le Figaro, Commissioner Avramopoulos calls for “solidarity from all Member States” in order to step up efforts to support Italy. He underlines that during Sunday’s meeting, an agreement was found on an NGO code of conduct, the reinforcement of Libya’s capacity to control its borders, improvements in the return of illegal migrants and relocation of refugees. He specifies that all these measures will be submitted to the Home Affairs Council on Thursday.

France and Germany also agreed that the EU should focus more on supporting the Libyan coast and improve conditions in the country’s refugee camps, Jyllands-Posten says. Even if the French and German Interior Ministers as well as Commissioner Avramopoulos expressed their “resolute solidarity with Italy” on Sunday, “a slap on the back is not enough anymore”, Italian Defence Minister Robert Pinotti warned, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Today, the European Commission will present an action plan prior to the informal meeting of Interior Ministers taking place in Tallinn, L’Opinion writes.

One of the challenges of the discussions is to make progress with regard to the European refugee relocation system while there are still divergences between the EU Member States on this matter. The plan is supposed to restrict the activities of NGO ships, which would be banned from entering the territorial waters of Libya, Gazeta Wyborcza specifies. In an interview with La Stampa, UNHCR special envoy for the central Mediterranean Vincent Cochetel is sceptical about the plan as it’s “already too late” to take action in Libya. In Právo daily, Miloš Balabán comments that the only efficient scenario is a joint military operation of the EU and NATO in Libya with the goal of blocking the immigration route from Africa to Europe, eliminating smuggler gangs and improving refugees’ conditions. Mr Cochetel further says that a mere code of conduct for NGOs cannot solve the problem as the two phases of sea rescues and arrivals on land should be “separated”. He concludes by saying that EU Member States “should form an agreement” on where rescued migrants should be taken.

A commentary in Der Tagesspiegel criticises the plan saying it is cynical and does no good for the refugees. In Tageszeitung, Michael Braun shares this view stating that the outcomes of the Italian-French-German refugee summit are “empty pledges”. In an interview with La Repubblica, Marco Bertotto from Doctors without Borders says the problem is not a lack of rules for NGOs, but rather the lack of a “real European policy” on immigration. He adds that if NGOs are prevented from working in the central Mediterranean, the lives of “thousands” of migrants will be at risk. Anna Sjöblom, medical humanitarian adviser at Doctors without Borders, stated that a better alternative to an EU code of conduct would be if Member States agreed on a collective action plan to help people cross the Mediterranean, Svenska Dagbladet reports.

A commentary in Trouw highlights the fact that Italy’s recent move is a “desperate cry for help” and that it should provide impetus to the process of solving the migrant problem. The Dutch newspaper explains that if the EU fails to reach an agreement among its own Member States, then there is no point in trying to reach agreements with northern African countries. However, Il Sole 24 Ore reports that France and Spain have already said no to Italy’s call for migrants rescued at sea to be taken to ports in other Member States.

Commissioner Avramopoulos said France could “make more efforts”. Suspecting a failure to secure an agreement on Thursday, Pier Ferdinando Casini, Italian President of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, urges a “Plan B”. In an interview with Il Messaggero, he underlines that this plan would involve a “partial closure” of Italy’s ports and a “more rigorous” stance on “suspicious” NGO boats. In Die Presse, Oliver Grimm says that it appears that European Commissioner Avramopoulos and European Commission President Juncker are hiding themselves behind stacks of paper and political responsibility.

In La Repubblica, Alberto D’Argenio says that, in a sign of “political support”, Mr Avramopoulos is ready to “unblock” €35 million today for Italy to help with costs in taking in migrants, but that this is “a drop in the ocean” compared with costs estimated at €4 billion in 2017. The extra means suggested by the European Commission and the Franco-German axis are only fighting the symptoms, Le Soir comments.