In an effort to better manage migrant arrivals and facilities for repatriation, Italy’s cabinet on Tuesday declared a state of emergency on immigration after a “sharp rise” in flows over the Mediterranean, according to a statement.
According to the ministry of maritime and civil safety, the first budget for the state of emergency will be 5 million euros ($5.45 million), and it will endure for six months.
Nello Musumeci, the minister of civil protection, stated: “Let there be no doubt, we are not solving the problem; the solution can only depend on responsible intervention by the European Union.”
According to a government source, the proposal would speed up the identification and deportation of individuals not permitted to remain in Italy and enable Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing administration to more promptly repatriate them.
According to figures from the interior ministry, 31,300 migrants have entered Italy so far in 2023, up from around 7,900 during the same time last year, despite the government’s commitment to stop mass immigration.
On Monday, the coastguard oversaw rescue operations involving two vessels transporting a combined total of 1,200 persons, with the assistance of charitable organisations.
After a fatal shipwreck off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy in late February, Meloni called on the European Union to take more measures to combat illegal immigration and harsher prison sentences for people traffickers.
Roberto Occhiuto, the governor of Calabria, said in a statement that “it is right that the interior ministry and the institutions should have special powers to tackle and manage a complex phenomenon that is straining some southern regions.”
