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Ministers welcomed the increased determination to act on migration, in particular as regards three strands: reinforcing the fight against the smuggling of human beings, strengthening EU action to save lives at sea and reinforcing engagement with third countries.
Ministers considered that this discussion constitutes a good basis for the Heads’ discussions at the Special European Council called by the President of the European Council Donald Tusk on migratory pressures in the Mediterranean on 23 April 2015. "From good intentions we now have to move forward to concrete action", said Edgars Rinkēvičs, the Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs and President of the EU Council.
The Council agreed to increase advance payments under the youth employment initiative by almost €1 billion in 2015. This is to allow member states to roll out quickly measures for the fight against youth unemployment.
"The drastic increase in advance payments reflects our strong commitment to tackle youth unemployment in Europe. In fact, the lack of pre-financing is currently one of the main hurdles preventing the €6.4 billion from the youth employment initiative from being quickly mobilised. The Latvian presidency will now work with the European Parliament to ensure that the new rules are adopted as quickly as possible", said Jānis Reirs, Latvian Minister for Finance.
The Council revised the EU's multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020 to preserve funds for promoting growth and jobs. "With this revision we have met all preconditions that the allocated resources can be used to their full extent and thus to ensure a smooth implementation of programmes supporting growth and jobs", said Edgars Rinkēvičs.
Remarks by Edgars Rinkēvičs following the General Affairs Council
