The good weather conditions pushed the candidates for exile out to sea. The island’s reception center, built to house fewer than 400 people, is overwhelmed.
Its population doubled in a few days. The Italian island of Lampedusa, located less than 150 km from the Tunisian coast, has been facing a massive influx of migrants since the start of the week. More than 7,000 people from North Africa have landed there since Tuesday. According to Matteo Villa, from the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (Ispi) think tank, the number of arrivals in 48 hours is a “absolute record”. While Italy criticizes other European countries for nnot mobilize sufficiently to help manage these flows, aThe meeting is to be held on Friday September 15 in Paris, at the Ministry of the Interior, with the “services concerned” police, gendarmerie and immigration. Franceinfo takes stock of the situation.
An increase in crossings due to good weather
The good weather conditions of recent days have pushed the candidates for exile out to sea and led to an increase in crossings. PlMore than 5,000 people landed on Italian shores on Tuesday, almost exclusively on Lampedusa, and nearly 3,000 on Wednesday, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
Most of them were recovered at sea on makeshift boats by the coast guard who brought them to the port of Lampedusa. But many died on the way. The last known victim was a five-month-old baby who fell into the water early Wednesday while he was part of a group being brought to shore. According to the UN migration agency, more than 2,000 people have died this year crossing between North Africa, Italy and Malta.
Lampedusa reception center completely overwhelmed
The island’s reception center, built to house fewer than 400 people, is overwhelmed, with men, women and children forced to sleep outside on makeshift plastic beds, many wrapped in survival blankets.
The municipality declared a local state of emergency and tensions erupted on Wednesday during the distribution of food by the Italian Red Cross (CRI), which manages the center. Several young migrants went to the historic center of Lampedusa, where an AFP photographer found some of them eating ice cream. Some restaurants refused them entry, but other establishments offered them food. Locals and tourists also paid for meals for them.
The CRI “do the impossible, and more than the impossible”, reacted Thursday its president, Rosario Valastro. Some 5,000 people were expected to be transferred by the end of the day to Sicily, where there are larger reception centers.
Brussels “in close contact” with Rome on the situation, the far right in ambush
A spokesperson for the European Commission assured Thursday that Brussels was “in close contact” with Rome on the situation, specifying that Italy had already received 14 million euros in European funds to deal with this situation. Italy criticizes its European partners for not mobilizing sufficiently to help it manage these flows. Germany announced this week that it was no longer accepting migrants from Italy. For its part, France announced the sending of reinforcements to fight against illegal immigration at the border with Italy.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the (anti-immigration) League, said he saw in these massive arrivals “an act of war” against Italy. The left opposition, for its part, joked about the failure of the policy of Council President Georgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, who were committed during the 2022 legislative campaign to “stop” migrant boats.
Marion Maréchal, head of the list of the French Reconquête party, a supporter of Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia formation, was expected Thursday evening in Lampedusa. “Lampedusa is not only the border of Italy but of all of Europe”she said before leaving.
Migratory pressure which has intensified in recent months
If the situation of recent days is particular, it reflects a situation which has persisted for several months. SAccording to figures announced Thursday by Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency, irregular arrivals of migrants in Italy via the Mediterranean from North Africa amounted to nearly 114,300 between January and August, almost twice as much as the same period in 2022.
However, the figures have not yet surpassed those of 2016, when more than 181,000 people, many of them Syrians fleeing the war, arrived on Italian shores.
Tunisia is, with Libya, the departure point for thousands of migrants, mainly Ivorians, Egyptians and Guineans. “Increased migration pressure on this route could persist in the coming months, with smugglers lowering prices for migrants leaving from Libya and Tunisia, amid fierce competition between criminal groups”warns Frontex.
“The so-called ‘central Mediterranean’ route, which starts from the Libyan and Tunisian coasts, has been going on for more than ten years”, underlined to franceinfo on Friday, Pierre Henry, president of France Fraternités. According to him, “If the European Union does not offer an appropriate political response, we will be permanently in this crisis situation”. And to remember that “these are not the countries of first entry”like Italy and Spain, “who register the most asylum requests”.