Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is not satisfied with her office's results in the fight against irregular migration and refugees, especially given the efforts, as she stated at a press conference in Rome.
“But I think things would have been a lot worse if I hadn't done that,” Meloni continued. Although the number of arrivals has decreased, she knows that “more was expected in this sense and I am ready to take responsibility for it”.
Italy faces a “historic challenge” in its treatment of refugees. “I’m trying to solve the problem structurally and that requires international support.”
Italy presides over the G-7 this year
EU asylum reform is not a sustainable solution to curb migration to Europe, even if the new rules are better than the old ones. Meloni once again made it clear that, in his opinion, people should be stopped from coming to Europe early.
The head of government sees a possibility for this in agreements with countries of origin, in order to ensure that people do not even make the trip to Europe. As the country that presides over the Group of Seven Large Industrialized Countries (G-7) this year, Italy wants to define migration and Africa as central themes.
In 2023, 157,652 people disembarked on the Italian coast, 50% more than the 105,131 in 2022, according to data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior. Also in 2023, 17,319 unaccompanied minors arrived, 23.3 percent more than in 2022. In the first two days of 2024, 47 people arrived.