Italian leader Giorgia Meloni vows to take 'extraordinary measures' to deal with a migrant influx
abcnews.go.comItalian Premier Giorgia Meloni is vowing to take “extraordinary measures” to deal with an influx of migrants
ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni vowed Friday to take “extraordinary measures" to deal with an influx of migrants, including calling anew for a naval blockade of North Africa, after a week in which more than 6,000 people arrived within a day on the island of Lampedusa from Tunisia.
Meloni invited the head of the European Commission to visit Lampedusa with her to see the conditions firsthand and called for a new European Union migration deal with Tunisia to be put into effect.
In a video distributed by her office, Meloni said that Europe needs a “paradigm change” to cope with a series of factors in Africa — conflict, instability, soaring grain prices and climate crises — that she warned could spur millions of people to risk their lives to come to Europe.
“Obviously, Italy and Europe cannot welcome this massive influx of people, especially when these migrant flows are being managed by unscrupulous traffickers,” she said.
Lampedusa, which is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland, has been overwhelmed this week by thousands of people hoping to reach Europe from Tunisia, which has replaced Libya as the main base for migrant smuggling operations in the Mediterranean.
The Italian Red Cross said that around 700 new arrivals had been transferred off Lampedusa on Thursday and 2,500 more transfers were planned for Friday to try to relieve pressure on the island’s refugee center, which has a normal capacity of around 400 people. As of Friday morning, the center was hosting about 3,800 people, down significantly from the more than 6,000 registered this week, the Red Cross said in a statement.
The influx has occurred
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