In the presence of the Commission Vice President, Viviane Reding, EA member  Francesco Musotto called upon the European Commission to take action and address the humanitarian emergency on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. The member of the Sicily region assembly declared that "solidarity is the prerequisite and fundamental condition to raise awareness on the value of the European Citizenship and to develop among people a true sense of belonging to the EU. "Along with the limited financial support that could be made available in the coming months, we call upon the EU to come up with a political initiative aimed at distributing the share of migrants among the member states, so as to organise afterwards the return to the country of origin of those who are not granted the refugee status" he concluded.