“It’s clear that we hoped for better in terms of immigration when we have worked so hard,” Giorgia Meloni said in an interview on Saturday at TG1, the television news of Rai Uno.
“The results are not what we hoped for. It is certainly a very complex problem, but I am sure that we will get to the bottom of it,” continued the Italian Prime Minister, speaking a year after her election.
Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party was elected largely on the promise of reducing mass immigration to Italy. However, the number of arrivals on boats from North Africa has increased, with more than 130,000 refugees registered by the Interior Ministry so far this year, compared to 70,000 for the same period in 2022.
EU called for help
After 8,500 people arrived on the small island of Lampedusa in just three days earlier this month, Giorgia Meloni called on the European Union to do more to help relieve the pressure.
Brussels agreed to step up efforts and announced this week that it would start releasing money to Tunisia – where many boats leave from – as part of a pact to stem irregular migration from from this country.
But Giorgia Meloni’s main coalition partner, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, of the anti-immigration League party, rejected EU efforts to manage the influx of arrivals which he called ‘act of war’.
“A demagogic and consciously cynical path”
Since coming to power, Giorgia Meloni’s government has restricted the activities of rescue ships, which it accuses of encouraging migrants, while pledging to crack down on smugglers. He also sought to promote the repatriation of migrants ineligible for asylum, in particular by building new detention centers and extending the duration of detention there.
A decree published this week in the Official Journal also provides that migrants awaiting an asylum decision will have to pay a deposit of 5,000 euros or risk being sent to a detention center.
The center-left Democratic Party declared in a note at the beginning of the week that “on immigration, the Italian right has failed”: “It continues on a demagogic and consciously cynical path, but above all totally ineffective both in respect and the safeguarding of human rights as well as the protection of Italy’s interests. »