IMMIGRATION : LIBYAN REFUGEES: NEW CALL FOR EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY.

Returning from talks with the new Tunisian authorities, the European Commissioner in charge of immigration, Cecilia Malmstrom, renewed her call for "solidarity" among the Union's member states in helping Libyan refugees stranded at the Egyptian and Tunisian borders. Several boats have also arrived on the Italian coast in the last week.

According to the commissioner, 220,000 people have fled the war in Libya. She said she was impressed by the "openness" of the new Tunisian authorities as the country awaits elections. These authorities have been in power since the old Tunisian regime was deposed during the so-called Jasmine Revolution', which also sparked popular uprisings in other Arab countries.

Some 7,000 refugees are currently in camps, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration. The commissioner says that in the last month the situation has become urgent for some 2,000 Eritrean, Sudanese and Ethiopian refugees who are in camps and unable to return to their country for fear of violence.

SWEDEN SAYS YES'

Commissioner Malmstrom has said she is "in constant discussion" with member states. Sweden has already agreed to take several hundred refugees, and the commissioner says other countries are also ready to act - although the names of these member states have not yet been revealed.

Malmstrom and her colleague, Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, spent two days in Tunisia to hold talks on mobility and migration. In the short-term, the Commission hopes to establish areas of cooperation with Tunisia, including helping Libyan...