Ursula von der Leyen and Giorgia Meloni met in Lampedusa, the Italian island closest to Africa and which has seen a much larger flow of migrants in recent days, in an attempt to respond to ‘illegal immigration’, while both being the target of criticism from the left and right for the way they have handled the issue. The President of the European Commission announced a ten-point action plan, while the Italian Prime Minister, while addressing the domestic and European public at the same time, recalled that the immigration problem must be resolved before the 27th.
“I came to Lampedusa to say that illegal immigration is a European problem and that there must be a European response to it,” said Von der Leyen. On the small island, which has a migrant reception center with a capacity of 400 people, almost 9,000 people arrived the day before, the result of an abnormal number of boat arrivals in recent days.
Local authorities declared a state of emergency and finally the head of the right-wing and far-right coalition government announced that it would take “extraordinary measures” to deal with the situation, and that could include a naval mission to force the departure from the Tunisia.
This year, more than 127 thousand migrants arrived in Italy, almost double (66 thousand) of the arrivals in the same period last year. On the small island of Lampedusa, with 6,000 inhabitants, 11,000 people arrived in a few days.
After touring an island with a much smaller number of migrants, who have now been sent to Sicily and the mainland, the two leaders vowed action.
According to Brussels, the solution includes a ten-point plan that in practice recycles or updates current or planned policies, such as the solidarity mechanism for other European countries to welcome migrants arriving in Lampedusa, updating European legislation against human trafficking and defining new legal provisions. and safe humanitarian corridors, in addition to increasing aerial surveillance of the Mediterranean through European agencies such as Frontex, and coordinating protocols with countries of origin to safely repatriate migrants who do not meet European asylum conditions.
“We are the ones who should decide who enters Europe, and not the human traffickers,” Von der Leyen said.
The tenth point of the action plan – the implementation of the understanding agreement with Tunisia – will be most closely linked to the current migration crisis. Brussels signed a pact with Tunis in July to prevent irregular migration from North Africa in exchange for millions of euros. The deal was welcomed by some EU politicians, including Meloni, but all has not gone well since then.
Human rights groups have questioned whether the deal will protect migrants, targeted by controversial statements by Tunisian President Kais Saied and alleged mistreatment by police. On Thursday it was announced that a delegation of five MEPs was told that they could not travel to Tunisia.
The Socialists and Democrats group, which includes the Socialist Party, called for the “immediate suspension” of the agreement, but the Commission, while expressing surprise and regret at Tunis’s attitude, said the pact was not up for discussion . In March, the European Parliament condemned the country’s ‘authoritarian drift’, which led to the outbreak of the Arab Spring.
The fact is that the Tunisian regime has not yet received a cent: the Commission said on Friday that the payout was still a “work in progress”. Without the promised money, Tunisian authorities will turn a blind eye to the departure of migrants – this is what Roberto Forin, regional coordinator for Europe of the Mixed Migration Center, believes, in conversation with Deutsche Welle. Added to this is the tension with the Members of the European Parliament, issues that the European executive will have to resolve to resolve or alleviate the migration crisis.
At least 2,013 people have died crossing the Mediterranean this year, according to the most recent IOM assessment from a month ago. Last year there were 2406 and in 2021 there were 3231 deaths.
Meloni is also under pressure to present results to the Italians who have prepared meals to feed migrants to government partners. On Friday he even called for a naval blockade, but international maritime law prohibits anyone from sailing the 188 kilometers between Sfax and Lampedusa. This is despite the fact that the deputy prime minister and leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, has made militaristic threats: “No intervention is excluded, not even the deployment of the navy. We must go beyond the diplomatic route.”
Across the Mediterranean, Tunisians have driven hundreds of migrants from the port of Sfax since Saturday, according to the NGO FDES. According to authorities, around 200 people from sub-Saharan countries were arrested as they prepared to board the ship.
Source: DN
