2023-09-16 14:03:07
The small Italian island, located 145 km from the Tunisian coast, remains at the center of attention. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Lampedusa on Sunday, where thousands of migrants have arrived this week, an EU official announced on Saturday. She will be accompanied for this visit by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Italian leader called on Brussels for help after the influx of several thousand people by boat this week. She had asked Ursula von der Leyen to come and see the situation and to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to put the migration issue on the agenda of the EU summit in October, while announcing that her government intended to take extraordinary measures.
Between Monday and Wednesday, around 8,500 people, more than the entire population of Lampedusa, arrived aboard 199 boats, according to figures from the United Nations migration 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.
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