Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin will visit “in the coming days” in Italy to meet his counterpart Matteo Piantedosi, while thousands of migrants arrived this week in Lampedusa, the Elysée announced on Saturday September 16 after a telephone conversation between Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni. The Head of State and the Head of the Italian Government committed during their meeting to “strengthen cooperation at European level (…) to find effective, immediate and longer-term solutions to this crisis”, specified the Elysée. Follow our live stream.
The Minister of the Interior speaks with his counterparts. Gérald Darmanin spoke by telephone with the Italian and German Interior Ministers on Saturday about the arrival of thousands of migrants on the island at the start of the week, according to the Interior Ministry. Germany had announced its intention to no longer accept refugees from Italy, accusing Rome of not respecting European agreements on the issue. “The time has first come for solidarity with Italy, and also for the mobilization of the European Union”for her part declared Elisabeth Borne on BFMTV.
Von der Leyen will go to the island. The President of the European Commission announced a trip to Lampedusa on Sunday, accompanied by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The far-right leader had invited the head of the European executive, denouncing migratory pressure “unsustainable” for Italy.
An almost unprecedented influx. Between Monday and Wednesday, around 8,500 people arrived on 199 boats, according to figures from the United Nations migration agency. This is more than the usual population of the island, whose reception center has fewer than 400 places. On Friday, several thousand exiles were transferred to Sicily.
Europeans must not “not leave Italy alone in the face of what it is going through”declared the President of the Republic on Friday, calling for “the responsibility of the entire European Union”. He also pointed out the “boundaries” of the “strictly nationalist approaches”.