Italy’s far-right prime minister has said she will not allow the country to become “Europe’s refugee camp”, after thousands of people seeking refuge landed on its shores, prompting France to tighten controls at its border with Italy.
Giorgia Meloni told the UN general assembly in New York that the huge numbers arriving in Lampedusa, a tiny Sicilian island that for years has been the first port of call for people crossing a perilous stretch of the Mediterranean Sea from north Africa, had placed Italy “under incredible pressure”.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Giorgia Meloni told the UN general assembly in New York that the huge numbers arriving in Lampedusa, a tiny Sicilian island that for years has been the first port of call for people crossing a perilous stretch of the Mediterranean Sea from north Africa, had placed Italy “under incredible pressure”.
During a visit to Lampedusa on Sunday, Meloni, who took power last October vowing to stop illegal immigration, said “the future of Europe is at stake” unless EU countries worked together to come up with “serious solutions”.
Meloni was the key protagonist of a controversial £105m deal signed in July between the EU and Tunisia, from where the vast majority of people are setting off, to stem irregular migration.
Italy and the EU have a similar deal with Libya, where people have reported severe human rights abuses in detention camps, including being beaten, tortured and raped.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanied Meloni during the visit to Lampedusa, where they both pledged the swift deportation of those turned down for asylum, urged EU member states to make use of a mechanism enabling them to voluntarily take in migrants to help ease the burden on Italy.
Ten years after Pope Francis made a landmark visit to Lampedusa to show solidarity with migrants, he will join Catholic bishops from the Mediterranean this weekend in the French city of Marseille to make the call more united.
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