It was one of the most daunting items in her in-tray when she was appointed Italy’s prime minister just over two years ago.

Giorgia Meloni had been elected on a promise to stop the boats that brought tens of thousands of migrants and refugees from North Africa to Italy with metronomic regularity every year.

When she assumed office in October 2022, the numbers were sky high.

By the end of that year, 105,000 migrants had reached Italian beaches, and in 2023, the influx was even higher – 157,000 asylum seekers and economic migrants made it across the Mediterranean from North Africa.

Her pledge to address what she described as “an epochal challenge” appeared to ring hollow.

But slowly, a raft of measures adopted by her government started to take effect.

By the end of 2024, 66,000 migrants had arrived – a dramatic reduction on the previous two years.

Confirmation of Italy’s success in reducing boat arrivals came this week from Frontex, the EU’s border agency, which reported that the number of asylum seekers who managed to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia and Libya last year dropped by 59 per cent compared with 2023.