The European Union presented Sunday, September 17, an emergency plan for Italy to help it handle migrant arrivals after a record number of people landed on its island of Lampedusa over the past week. The surge in asylum seekers on the Italian island of Lampedusa has rekindled a fierce debate in Europe on how to share responsibility for the tens of thousands reaching the Continent each year.
"Irregular migration is a European challenge and it needs a European answer," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Lampedusa, offering a 10-point plan to help Rome deal with the crisis. Italy's prime minister had warned that the "future of Europe is at stake". At a press conference with von der Leyen, Giorgia Meloni said the bloc needed to work together to face the challenges of uncontrolled migration. It is "the future that Europe wants for itself that is at stake here, because the future of Europe depends on Europe's capacity to face major challenges," Meloni said.
Between Monday and Wednesday, around 8,500 people – more than the island's entire local population – arrived in 199 boats, according to the UN migration agency. The Italian Red Cross, which runs the overcrowded Lampedusa migration-center, said Sunday that 1,500 migrants remained there despite having a capacity for just 400. Transfers of migrants to Sicily and the mainland have not kept up with the flow of new arrivals, although further transfers were expected to be made Sunday, the Red Cross said.
Between Monday and Wednesday, around 8,500 people – more than the island's entire local population – arrived in 199 boats, according to the UN migration agency. at the airport by residents unhappy with the mass arrivals, threatening to block their motorcade. "We are doing everything possible," Meloni had said in response.
Von der Leyen said her aid plan for Italy included increased support for the European Agency for Asylum (EUAA) and the EU's Frontex border control agency to register new arrivals. The increased measures include ensuring that fingerprints are taken and conducting interviews to make sure people are directed toward the proper authorities.
The EU will also step up aid for transporting asylum seekers from Italy to other EU members, under a voluntary scheme for sharing responsibility for migrants – in particular women and unaccompanied minors.
But the EU programme for sharing the burden of new arrivals has met resistance in several bloc members, with right-wing governments in Poland and Hungary the most strongly opposed to the plan. This week, EU heavyweight Germany said it had stopped accepting migrants living in Italy under the European solidarity scheme, saying Rome was failing to honour its obligations under EU rules.
Under the bloc's so-called Dublin procedure, irregular migrants must be registered in the EU country they first enter. If they later travel to another nation in the bloc, they can be returned to their first EU port of call. "That is why we have sent a signal to Italy," a German government spokesman said Friday.
But the e rules place an excessive burden on border nations, particularly since new arrivals often want to move on and live in other EU countries.
Large vessels operated by NGOs like the Geo Barents by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which have rescued nearly 500 migrants in 11 operations, are headed for major Italian ports. But dozens of small boats continue to make the perilous sea-crossing to Lampedusa, where the migrant management system has come to the brink of asphyxiation.
In July, von der Leyen – with Meloni's strong backing – struck an agreement with Tunisia aimed at curbing the flow of irregular migration from the North African country. More than 127,000 migrants have arrived on Italy's shores so far this year, almost double the same period last year. Over 2,000 people have died this year crossing from North Africa to Italy and Malta, according to the UN migration agency.
The EU is pushing to overhaul rules on how to handle the migrant flow. In France, members of the far right say Paris should not allow any migrants from Lampedusa across the border from Italy. However, French government sources said late Saturday that Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron had spoken and agreed on the need to "strengthen cooperation at the European level."