European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni are set to visit Lampedusa on Sunday after the latter invited the former come and see scale of the migrant emergency for herself.
EC spokesman Eric Mamer confirmed via X on Saturday that von der Leyen would be in Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost tip, the following day.
Meloni said in a video message on Friday that Italy is under “unsustainable pressure” due to the large number of migrant boats arriving at Lampedusa from North Africa.
Around 127,000 migrants have entered Italy so far this year, approximately twice as many as in the same period in 2022.
The premier said her government will pass extraordinary measures to deal with the emergency at a cabinet meeting on Monday, She added that she had written to European Council President Charles Michel asking for the issue of migrants to be on the agenda of the October EU summit, saying that she would request a European mission to stop migrant boats departing.
She said the length of time people can be kept at CRP centres for those who entered Italy illegally and are awaiting repatriation will be extended to up to 18 months as part of the new measures.
She said the maximum time that asylum seekers can be kept at reception centres will remain at 12 months.
Meloni also announced that the defence ministry would set up new reception centres for migrants.
French President Emmanuel Macron will speak to Meloni about the issue of migrants, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told Bfm TV on Saturday.
“The time has come for solidarity with Italy, but also for the EU to mobilize,’ Borne said.
A three-way videoconference on the migrant crisis in Lampedusa took place on Saturday afternoon involving the interior ministers of Italy, France and Germany, Matteo Piantedosi, Gérald Darmanin and Nancy Faeser, along with Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, sources in Darmanin’s entourage said.
DPA, meanwhile, reported that Faeser has announced that Germany is reactivating the voluntary solidarity mechanism established at the EU level in 2022 under which it receives asylum seekers from Italy.
This week Berlin suspended the mechanism and said it would only resume when Germany can once again transfer asylum seekers arriving on its territory back to Italy on the basis of the Dublin Regulation mandating that asylum applications be processed in the country of first entry.
On Friday Faeser said the mechanism had been suspended because “Italy has shown no willingness to take people back through the Dublin procedure”, but she immediately added that: “now, of course, it is clear that we also fulfill our obligation of solidarity”, DPA reported.
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Saturday called for the United Nations and NATO to be involved in efforts to halt the flow of migrants from North Africa to Italy.
“Maybe even Europe is not sufficient to address the migrant question, given what is happening in Africa,” Tajani said in a telephone link to a regional meeting of his Forza Italia (FI) party in Naples.
“Strong action on the international level is needed.
“NATO, the United States and the UN must be more present and they must be part of the solution”.
Around 100 residents of Lampedusa, including Deputy Mayor Attilio Lucia of the League party, on Saturday halted traffic towards the town hall in protest over a rumour that a tent camp for migrants was being set up at the former Loran military base on the island.
Agrigento Police Chief Emanuele Ricifari said there was no truth in the rumour.
There was also tension at the island’s migrant hotspot as people there protested at long waits to be transferred off the island.
A baby died on a migrant boat overnight close to Lampedusa, sources said on Saturday.
The baby died shortly after his mother gave birth to him on the boat, the sources said.
The boat was rescued by a port authority vessel and the baby’s body was put in a while coffin and taken to the island’s cemetery.
Another baby, a five-month-old boy, died on a migrant boat headed to Lampedusa earlier this week.
“Tragically, I’m not surprised,” said Matteo Maria Zuppi, the president of Italian bishops conference CEI.
“It’s a tragedy. Little ones and grown-ups are losing their lives.
“There’s a debate about how to address waves of arrivals like this.
“But we must remember that people’s lives are scared and we must save them”.
Source: Ansa News Agency (ANA)