Within a week, thousands of migrants reached the shores of the island of Lampedusa. It is expected that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will go there on Sunday to assess the situation, accompanied by Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on Brussels for help after an influx of about 8,500 people aboard 199 boats, according to the U.N. migration agency, that arrived three days this week on this small Italian island in the Mediterranean near Tunisia. .
EU debate resumes
The Italian leader also asked Ursula von der Leyen to come to the site to familiarize herself with the situation. She also asked European Council President Charles Michel to put migration on the agenda for the EU (European Union) summit in October, while announcing that his government would take emergency measures.
Those thousands of migrants were transferred to Sicily on Friday. Images showing thousands of people sleeping in the open, climbing over perimeter fences and roaming the city of Lampedusa have sparked anger among members of Italy’s far-right government. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called the visits “an act of war.”
This migration surge has renewed debate about the division of responsibilities within the European Union regarding asylum seekers. Lampedusa, less than 150km off the Tunisian coast, is one of the first stops for migrants crossing the Mediterranean in hopes of reaching Europe. Every summer, tens of thousands of them take to sea in often decrepit boats to attempt the dangerous crossing, which has already killed more than 2,000 of them since January.
Source: Le Parisien
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