September 17, 2023, 10:48 BST
Updated 1 hour ago
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has visited a migrant reception center on the Italian island of Lampedusa after the country’s prime minister asked for EU help with the arrival of small boats.
More than 8,000 migrants have arrived on the island in the last three days.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy was under “unsustainable pressure.”
Ms von der Leyen acknowledged on Sunday that the issue was “a European challenge and needs a European response”.
At a press conference with Ms Meloni, she praised the people of Lampedusa for the support they had given to the migrants, who she said had arrived on the island “simply because of their situation”.
She pledged to increase support for the deportation of migrants from Lampedusa and step up efforts against people smugglers who facilitated dangerous and illegal journeys.
The problem cannot be solved by Italy alone, said Ms. Meloni. It currently affects “the borders, the border countries”, but will soon affect all EU states, she said.
“The future of Europe depends on its ability to meet the epochal challenges of our time, and the challenge of illegal immigration is certainly one of them.”
The mother is said to have given birth to her child during the journey from North Africa, reports the Ansa news agency, and the death is being investigated.
According to Italian media, the child’s body was placed in a white coffin and taken to a cemetery in the Imbriacola district of Lampedusa.
Earlier this week, a five-month-old boy drowned during a rescue operation off the island after a boat carrying migrants across the sea from North Africa capsized.
Ms Meloni is pushing for a European Union naval blockade to prevent boats from crossing the Mediterranean and reaching Italian shores.
The Italian Red Cross said on Saturday that it was caring for around 2,500 people in a reception center designed to accommodate 400 arrivals.
Volunteers and staff provided thousands of meals throughout the week and helped bring newcomers to Sicily and elsewhere.
Nearly 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, roughly double the number from the same period in 2022.
Ms. Meloni said on Saturday that she was calling on Ms. von der Leyen to “become personally aware of the seriousness of the situation we find ourselves in” and to “immediately accelerate” the implementation of an agreement with Tunisia.
The North African country has become the main departure point for African migrants trying to reach Europe.
The EU deal, signed in July, comes with 110 million euros ($118 million; 90 million pounds) in EU money to stop smuggling, strengthen borders and send back migrants.
The surge in arrivals led to protests by some Lampedusa residents on Saturday against plans to build a new tent camp to house the migrants.
“I have two children at home. In recent years I have not cared about this topic. But now I have an instinct to protect my children because I don’t know what will happen to Lampedusa in the future,” one of the protesters told Portal.
“Lampedusa says stop! We don’t want tent camps. This message is addressed to Europe and to the Italian government. The residents of Lampedusa are tired,” said another protester.
Jasmine Lozzelli, an activist working in Lampedusa, told the BBC the migrants should be sent to mainland Italy.
“It’s not a problem of numbers, it’s a problem of how to manage the admissions system. When you start doing rescue operations properly with large ships, you don’t take them to an island of 5,000 people, you take them to the mainland,” she said.
“Bringing them to Lampedusa creates an emergency.”