by Yara Nardi
LAMPEDUSA, Italy, Sept 16 (Reuters) – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit the Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday, officials said, as dozens of residents protested on Saturday against a unprecedented wave of migrant arrivals.
The President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, asked the EU on Friday to act jointly “with a naval mission if necessary” to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
Around 7,000 people from North Africa have arrived in Lampedusa in recent days, leading to a humanitarian crisis on the island located between Tunisia, Malta and Sicily, and which normally has just over 6,000 inhabitants. Nearly 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year.
“President Von der Leyen will travel to Lampedusa tomorrow at the invitation of the Italian Prime Minister, (Georgia) Meloni,” Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer announced on X (ex-Twitter).
The French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, indicated on Saturday on X that he had spoken with his German and Italian counterparts, the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commissioner.
“Today, the time is first for solidarity with Italy, for the mobilization of the European Union to come in support,” French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told BFMTV, adding that Emmanuel Macron would speak with Georgia Meloni.
Germany has decided to continue to welcome migrants and refugees arriving in Italy, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Friday, two days after announcing the suspension of an agreement on the subject with Rome.
Dozens of Lampedusa residents gathered on Saturday to protest a plan to build new camps to accommodate migrants.
“Lampedusa says stop! We don’t want camps. This message is addressed to Europe and the Italian government. The inhabitants of Lampedusa are tired,” said a demonstrator.
Italian media reported that around a thousand migrants arrived on the island on Saturday. (Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro in Milan, with contributions from Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Gus Trompiz in Paris; French version Camille Raynaud)
©2023 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.