(Lampedusa) The influx of migrants in Lampedusa decreases on Friday and the Italian authorities transfer to Sicily and the continent thousands of people who arrived this week by sea on this Mediterranean island close to the North African coast.
French President Emmanuel Macron defended the same day a “duty of European solidarity” with Italy while Berlin has just suspended the voluntary reception of asylum seekers from this country due to “strong migratory pressure » and Rome’s refusal to apply European agreements.
However, Germany also seems ready to extend a hand to Rome, under condition: the relocations provided for in the “voluntary European solidarity mechanism” can be reimplemented “at any time if Italy fulfills its obligation to take back the refugees” in accordance with EU rules, a German government spokesperson assured Friday.
“There are so many of us here”
Located less than 150 km 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.
However, the situation has never been so tense in Lampedusa where the majority of the 11,000 migrants who have arrived on Italian territory since Monday have arrived, according to the Ministry of the Interior, saturating the reception center managed by the Italian Red Cross. (CRI) and whose capacity is 400 places.
Federico Fossi, UNHCR spokesman, said 8,512 people had landed on the island between Monday and Wednesday, more than the local population.
PHOTO CECILIA FABIANO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Located less than 150 km from the Tunisian coast, Lampedusa is one of the first stopover points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean hoping to reach Europe.
Due to lack of space in the reception center, hundreds of people have had to sleep outside, in the street, sometimes benefiting from the generosity of the population who brings them water and food.
A young Gambian named Omar sits in the shade, waiting for a bus. “It’s not easy here,” he sighs. “There are so many of us here (…), even eating is a problem,” he explains, recounting wanting to join his brother in the Netherlands after six months of a dangerous journey across the Sahel.
A total of more than 127,000 migrants have landed on Italian shores since the start of the year, almost double compared to the same period in 2022.
The figures, however, have not yet surpassed those of 2016, when more than 181,000 people, many of them Syrians fleeing the war, reached Italy.
Concerns in Europe
These arrivals provoked numerous political reactions, both in Italy and in neighboring countries.
The situation in Lampedusa shows that “strictly nationalist approaches have their limits”, launched Emmanuel Macron on Friday, wishing not to “leave Italy alone with what it is experiencing today”, without saying if France would welcome migrants from Lampedusa.
PHOTO VALERIA FERRARO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nearly 126,000 migrants have landed on Italian shores since the start of the year, compared to 65,500 during the same period last year.
Relations between these two countries were strained in November 2022 when Italy refused to welcome the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking and the 230 migrants on board, pushing Paris to let it dock while denouncing the “unacceptable” behavior of Rome.
The head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni, head of the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, criticizes other European states for not doing their part in welcoming migrants while Italy is on the front line.
“The action of Italy alone is not enough,” repeated Friday the head of Italian diplomacy Antonio Tajani, who is due to visit Paris and Berlin soon.
In fact, Europeans must “not leave Italy alone in the face of what it is experiencing,” insisted Mr. Macron, invoking “the responsibility of the entire European Union.”
France and Italy want to act together at the European level to strengthen the “prevention of migrant departures” and fight “against smugglers”, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin declared on Friday.
Matteo Piantedosi, his Italian counterpart, spoke with him on Friday and they agreed that it was necessary “above all a rapid strengthening of operational cooperation” with the countries of departure in order to “block” new crossings.
The EU and Tunisia signed an agreement to this effect in July, in exchange for financial aid to this North African country facing serious economic difficulties.
Matteo Salvini’s Anti-Immigration League, a member of the ruling coalition, has taken issue with this agreement in recent hours. For MP Andrea Crippa, “the government of Tunisia, it is obvious, has declared war on Italy” by letting a large number of boats leave in a short time.
