From January 1 to March 27, 2023, 26,927 migrants landed in Italy, according to the Viminale bulletin published today. In 2022 there were 6,543, in 2021 6,334.
6,564 migrants have arrived in the last five days.
Regarding the nationalities declared upon landing in recent weeks, 3,660 migrants said they were from Ivory Coast, 3,177 from Guinea, 1,986 from Pakistan, 1,896 from Bangladesh, 1,771 from Tunisia, 1,195 from Egypt.
The number of unaccompanied foreign minors who have landed in Italy to date is 2,641: 14,044 in 2022 and 10,053 in 2021.
650 landed in the night
During the night, 650 people reached the port of Roccella Ionica aboard a 30-meter fishing boat that left Libya and evaded all controls. The migrants who recently landed at Locride, all men, are from Syria, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh and traveled for about 5 days before entering the port and colliding with another boat used on an earlier arrival. The refugees, who are said to be all in good health, have been accommodated at the moment in one of the areas of the port near the tensioning structure that temporarily houses other people arriving with the last few days’ landings.
Tunis on Gentiloni: «We count on the economic support of our partners»
EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni met in Tunis with Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar, who «urged the European side to show more understanding of the specifics of the country’s current phase and to adopt a responsible and constructive speech that reflects the reality of the situation. This can be read in a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Tunis. Tunis “counts on the mobilization of its own resources and on the economic and financial support of its partners, including the EU, for the success of its process of political, economic and social reforms.” On the subject of immigration, the meeting stressed the need for a global approach that takes into account the economic and social dimensions of this phenomenon.
Click day: 238,000 requests for 82,000 seats
And on the subject of migrants, today was also the so-called “click day” for booking residence permits based on the Ministry’s flow decree. The requests were so high that just one hour after opening, the Viminale website was overbooked: at 10 a.m., 238,335 requests were received, almost triple the quotas provided for in the decree, namely 82,705. The questions were all uploaded to the telematics platform.
Musumeci: “Currents are growing, Tunisia is a time bomb”
‘I think I was the first to say a few months ago, ‘Don’t imagine what’s going to happen this summer’, and the facts bear me out. It is enough to look at the political framework of Mediterranean geography, what is happening in Tunisia, a real time bomb, what is happening on Turkey’s new route, to understand that this phenomenon cannot be dealt with in an ordinary way without conviction and the need for EU intervention start blocking embarkations in border states », explains the Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policy, Nello Musumeci, on the sidelines of the event Civiltà del mare – The new underwater world of mankind at the Naval Academy of Livorno.
“We must free these thousands of people – adds Musumeci – from blackmail by smugglers who demand payment of up to 10,000 euros to board rafts that, unfortunately, often do not even arrive at their destination”.
Salvini: “If the European Union does not wake up, there is no point in its existence”
‘Either Europe wakes up or I wonder what’s the point of making sacrifices on Italians in cars, houses, taxes and at least border control and border protection and security for Italians. Brussels should finally help us because Lampedusa, Trieste and Ventimiglia are Italian and European borders». «There is obviously an underworld attack underway here and that is why we are waiting for a hand from the European Union, because Italy cannot be left alone with this problem, we cannot afford it economically, socially and financially from all points of view». So Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Lega today in Trieste.
Calenda’s answer
“Immigration is driven by political, economic and climatic instability. NGOs rescue people at sea and bring less than 10% of migrants into the country. Salvini closed the Sofia mission, which he controlled and saved (and it wasn’t private). Salvini’s entire leadership as interior minister with Conte as prime minister was a total failure. Fewer evictions than Alfano, dismantling of the Sprar, ships in port with migrants on board to put on a little show. It does less damage when it takes care of the Straits Bridge.” The leader of the action, Carlo Calenda, writes it on Twitter.
Three ships in rescue operations in the Mediterranean
There are three ships with migrants on board that are currently in the Mediterranean Sea and are involved in rescue attempts or transfers. In addition to the Coast Guard ship Diciotti, which carries 526 migrants from the Lampedusa hotspot and is transferred to Reggio Calabria, there is the Life Support ship with 161 migrants to Ortona.
Sos Mediterranée’s Ocean Viking, the same one that denounced the Libyan Coast Guard shootings in alleged international waters, is instead off the coast of Tunisia awaiting possible rescues, while Médecins Sans Frontières’ Geo Barents will depart from the port of Bari tomorrow, after 190 migrants who had been rescued in the previous days disembarked yesterday.
Schlein: «Meloni came back from Brussels with a handful of flies»
‘On the subject of migration, Giorgia Meloni should have asked for a European mare recipe instead of declaring war on the NGOs. She came back from Brussels with a handful of flies.’ Elly Schlein explained this at the opening of the session with the parliamentary groups assembled in the plenary hall to discuss the new political phase.
Article is updated.