YEREVAN. – Assistance of 40 million euros allocated by the European Union to Italy to tackle the migration crisis is only a temporary solution to the global problem, director of the German-Russian forum, political scientist Alexander Rahr told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The European Union has allocated an additional € 40 million of assistance to Italy to tackle the migration crisis. New funds will be used to develop 11 projects to overcome the crisis. In particular, they should help improve the conditions for migrants and asylum-seekers, including medical care and the services of interpreters

In Africa only, there are about 60 million potential migrants dreaming to get to Europe in search of a better life, the analyst said.

“This is a huge problem, and Europe has yet to accept the huge new flows of migrants that will literally overwhelm,” Rahr noted, adding that the amount allocated for Italy's assistance is simply insignificant and ridiculous for solving the range of problems that the country is facing because of the migration crisis.

The analyst believes that this is a problem for decades, and its solution will need not million, but billions of dollars. At the same time, the expert stressed that the assistance of the European Union will not be limited to Italy. The EU is even ready to write off the debts of Greece so that it could receive a significant part of the migrants, thus weakening the flow towards Western Europe, and in particular, to Germany.

According to Italian internal affair ministry, from the beginning of the year slightly more than 114 thousand migrants arrived to the country by sea, which is almost 32% less than in the same period last year.