2023-09-16 20:06:45
Migrants on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 16, 2023. YARA NARDI / REUTERS
Emmanuel Macron announced it on Saturday September 16 to Giorgia Meloni: the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, will visit “in the coming days” in Italy to meet his counterpart, Matteo Piantedosi, after the arrival of several thousand migrants this week in Lampedusa.
The Head of State and the Head of the Italian Government committed during their meeting to “strengthen cooperation at European level (…) to find effective, immediate and longer-term solutions to this crisis”, announced the Elysée. Emmanuel Macron and Georgia Meloni also spoke “joint action” which could be carried out by Paris and Rome in the Mediterranean, added the French presidency, without further details.
“The time has come first for solidarity with Italy, and also for the mobilization of the European Union”had previously declared the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne.
“When we have freedom fighters, people whose lives are threatened in their country, obviously, we must continue to welcome them”continued Elisabeth Borne, interviewed on the sidelines of the Heritage Days in Matignon. “Then we must also see the concern that there may be (…) to see these waves of migrants arriving. We need to respond to all of these situations.”she added.
Between Monday and Wednesday, around 8,500 people, more than the entire population of Lampedusa, arrived on 199 boats, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency. . The migrant reception center built on the island is designed for fewer than 400 people. Thousands of these migrants were therefore transferred to Sicily on Friday.
Emmanuel Macron spoke of a “duty of European solidarity” with Italy, while Berlin has just suspended the voluntary reception of asylum seekers from this country due to a “strong migratory pressure” and Rome’s refusal to apply European agreements.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will visit the island on Sunday accompanied by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. Ms Meloni had asked Ms von der Leyen to come to Lampedusa to see the situation and to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to put the migration issue on the agenda of the European Union summit in October, while announcing that his government intended to take extraordinary measures.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The island of Lampedusa, where more than 6,000 migrants arrived this week, at the heart of the management of migratory flows towards Europe
More than 2,000 deaths since January
Images of thousands of people sleeping in the open, climbing the fence and wandering around the city of Lampedusa have angered members of Italy’s far-right government. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini spoke of“act of war” about these arrivals.
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This migratory surge has relaunched the debate on the sharing of responsibilities within the European Union regarding asylum seekers.
Located less than 150 kilometers from the Tunisian coast, Lampedusa is one of the first stops for migrants crossing the Mediterranean hoping to reach Europe. Every year, during the summer, tens of thousands of them take to the sea on often dilapidated boats, to attempt this perilous crossing in which more than 2,000 of them have already died since January.
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