On 28 October, José Carreira, Executive Director of EASO, welcomed Ms Věra Jourová, Commisioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality to EASO headquarters in Valletta, Malta.

During her visit, the Commissioner was briefed on EASO main activities and structure with a particular focus on EASO’s supporting role and ongoing operations in the hotspots in Greece and Italy. Another relevant topic for discussion was the overall asylum situation in the EU.

Important figures and milestones have been mentioned during the meeting, explaining EASO’s efforts in carrying out a number of operations in Italy and Greece, where are deployed, overall, some 280 staff in around 20 locations.

In this context, EASO’s Executive Director held that he believes “in the importance of having a strong justice component in our asylum and migration policies, especially in the current European context, focused on finding real solutions for the real problems that Member States have to cope with. EASO is a crucial part of the EU response to the current migratory challenges, being one of the key players in the implementation of the EU relocation programme and of the EU-TR Statement”.

Any further information on EASO may be obtained by contacting Mr. Jean-Pierre Schembri on the following e-mail address:
jean-pierre.schembri@easo.europa.eu  (follow us live on twitter @EASO).