Brussels, 23 May 2016

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Good morning everybody. We will have today a very intense Foreign Affairs Council with three main points on the agenda. First of all, the situation in Syria, Iraq and our work to defeat Dae'sh. I just met this morning with the leader of the Syrian Opposition Coalition [Mr. Anas Al-Abdah], and his delegation: a very interesting and representative delegation of different components of the Syrian society. We are working with them to prepare the talks in Geneva and the beginning of the political transition in Damascus, while obviously our work on the humanitarian side continues. But it is important to defeat Dae'sh, to guarantee European security, and first of all to improve the lives of Syrian people and to guarantee that political talks in Geneva restart and have full success.
 
It is also important to keep Iraq in the picture: as we see every single day,our work is not limited on Syria, it is also very strong on Iraq and there is a need for that.  
 
We will also have a debate with the Ministers on the Global Strategy that I am going to present in the coming weeks.

And we will have a point on the external side of migration, on which, as you know, we have been working for months now. We have started to work countries of origin and transit in the sense of partnership, launching [High level] dialogues and preparing packages with them. I was just a few days ago in Nigeria. We will discuss several proposals that some Member States are raising, as well as the communication that I am preparing with Vice-President Timmermans and that we will present in the Commission in the beginning in June and which will be then presented to the European Council later in June.
 
Let me also mention the fact that we are having, just now, a meeting with the Foreign Ministers of the Eastern partners. It is a very important meeting in between the two Summits in Riga last year and the one coming up next year. This is extremely important for us to always keep the balance between our attention to the South and to the East in different issues that, even when they get a little bit out of the mainstream media, keep a top position on our agenda. This is the case of our work with Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, but also Belarus as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan, of whom I met the Presidents in Vienna last week before their meeting.
 
Q. On the crash of EgytpAir flight. 
I still did not have the chance to publicly first of all to convey my condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the authorities of the [affected] countries; Egypt first of all, but also France and others that have experienced so many losses. Obviously all our thoughts are with them and all our availability to work and support the work that is ongoing in these days.  We are following it very carefully and support it in all possible ways to clarify the dynamic, and obviously to follow-up once it will be clear. Thank you very much. 
 
[In Italian] Oggi al Consiglio Affari esteri avremo dei punti di discussione molto importanti, a cominciare dalla questione migrazione. Chiaramente, l'Italia presenterà nuovamente le sue proposte. Ci sono proposte anche di altri Stati membri. Noi stiamo lavorando da mesi a un piano che affronti l'immigrazione nel suo complesso, a partire dagli investimenti nei Paesi d'origine – in Africa ma anche in Asia – e con la Libia, soprattutto. Proprio ieri è arrivata la lettera del Primo Ministro Serraj a me indirizzata per richiedere l'aiuto, l'assistenza dell'Unione europea per formare la Guardia Costiera libica. E' un invito che accoglieremo; ne discuterò oggi con i ministri. Sarà molto importante per controllare le acque territoriali libiche, per farlo insieme ai nostri partner libici e quindi anche per controllare i flussi migratori. Discuteremo anche di Siria oggi con i ministri, della nuova strategia globale dell'Unione europea. E di Siria: proprio adesso ho incontrato il leader del Consiglio di opposizione siriana. Con lui stiamo lavorando al processo di transizione a Damasco, una delle crisi fondamentali per l'Unione europea. Anche questo è lavorare alle radici, alle cause di movimenti di persone – di rifugiati, in questo caso – che viviamo così drammaticamente nella nostra regione.
 
Q. Ci sono state delle cifre sulle dimensioni del piano per l'immigrazione – se può confermare. 
 
Non posso confermare o discutere di cifre. Posso però confermare che stiamo lavorando, Frans Timmermans e io, a una comunicazione che presenteremo all'inizio di giugno e che porteremo poi in Consiglio europeo alla fine del mese di giugno. È frutto di un lavoro che facciamo da molti mesi, che ho annunciato proprio dieci giorni fa dopo il Consiglio dei ministri della Cooperazione allo Sviluppo, quando dissi che stiamo lavorando a un piano per combinare risorse del bilancio europeo, investimenti privati, garanzie della Banca europea per gli investimenti.

Link to the video: http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/event/foreign-affairs-council-may-2016-573d96b6c5de9/arrival-and-doorstep-eu-hr-mogherini-5742bcf9dd450