Italy’s Meloni invites EU Commission head to Lampedusa amid migration crisis

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Friday she invited EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to see first-hand the seriousness of the situation at Lampedusa, the tiny Italian Mediterranean island overwhelmed with migrants.

Meloni said she is hopeful von der Leyen will join her and will accelerate the deployment of the EU resources promised to Tunisia in exchange for blocking migrants’ departures from that country.

“President von der Leyen has always been very collaborative. I don’t doubt she will be so this time too,” Meloni said in a video message circulated by her office.

An EU spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

A flurry of arrivals of boats crammed with migrants at Lampedusa has made the situation there almost unmanageable, with reception centers overcrowded and moments of tensions between migrants and police.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the situation in Lampedusa is critical and insisted that ensuring adequate assistance for the most vulnerable must be a priority.

According to Italy’s Interior Ministry, around 126,000 migrants reached Italy by sea in 2023 as of this week, nearly double the number from the same time last year.

The record flux of migrants is adding pressure on the right-wing government headed by Meloni, who made the fight against illegal immigration a key plank of her campaign platform.

Against this backdrop, Meloni also said her government will adopt “extraordinary measures“ on Monday on the treatment of illegal migrants on Italian soil who do not qualify for refugee status.

Rome will hold for up to 18 months those who enter the country illegally in specific centers where illegal migrants are held before being repatriated. Now, they can be held for up to 12 months. For those who qualify for refugee status the maximum duration will be 12 months.

Mleloni added that her government is building new reception centers for migrants and refugees because existing ones are insufficient.

The new ones will be built in areas with low-density populations and will be properly guarded to ensure migrants remain there until it is decided if they can remain in Italy or need to be expelled.

In addition, she said she will ask her European partners at the next EU Council in October “to launch immediately” a European mission in the Mediterranean to block migrants’ departures from northern Africa.

She also sent a message to migrants who want to attempt the crossing to Italy.

“It’s not worthy to entrust your life with human traffickers, because they ask you for a lot of money and they put you on boats which are not equipped to make those trips,” she said. “In any case, if you enter illegally, you will be held and sent back.

“Our situation doesn’t allow us to do otherwise,” she said.