In Italy, too, the debate about migration policy is heating up and events are gaining pace. Actually, one has to say: They are gaining speed, especially in Italy, because the government has been preparing measures over the weekend with which the state is reacting faster and harder than before to the challenge at Europe’s southern border; The package of measures was approved by the cabinet this Monday.
In an unusual video speech on Friday evening, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni set the course: The focus is on tightening deportation detention for those who arrived irregularly. The possible duration of detention should be extended to 18 months – EU law does not allow more. This is intended to ensure that the people in question can actually be detained until their asylum application is decided, which will then make deportation easier if necessary. Because the logistics for this are currently lacking, the Defense Ministry should build new camps in “remote, sparsely populated areas” that can be easily monitored. Meloni spoke of a solidarity between the center-right parties and accused parts of Italian politics and the EU of preventing appropriate measures “for ideological reasons or, even worse, for political calculation.”
Meloni’s visit to Lampedusa stole the show for Salvini
The specific measures, but also the tone that Meloni is adopting, can certainly be described as a change of course. The Prime Minister has so far made rather moderate statements – although during the election campaign she insulted migrants, called for a naval blockade and denounced the EU as incompetent. Since taking office, she has not repeated this and has left the business of outrage to her much smaller but self-confident coalition partner, Matteo Salvini’s right-wing populist Lega.
The escalation of the situation on the small Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, where thousands of migrants arrived in boats that were mostly not seaworthy in the middle of last week, has now fundamentally changed the situation. Salvini immediately spoke of “acts of war” against Italy and called for the military to be deployed. Meloni followed suit on Friday with her video and is now apparently trying to put herself at the forefront of the movement.
At least she managed to attract the attention of the Italian and world public on Sunday with a short-term visit to Lampedusa together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Lega’s long-announced autumn meeting in Pontida, northern Italy, became a minor media issue. Salvini met the French right-wing extremist Marie Le Pen there in a demonstratively warm manner and sealed cooperation for the European elections next year. Salvini’s people had only scorn and ridicule for Meloni’s “show-walking,” as they called it. Quite obviously a duel has broken out over the sovereignty of interpreting the topic.
And apart from that, it is also about concrete, practical politics. Meloni continues to demonstratively rely on cooperation with the EU. It reiterates its policy of agreements with the countries from which refugees come or where they are staying before they set sail for Europe. So far, however, this has not worked; instead, exposed regions such as Lampedusa, which is closer to Africa than to Europe, need concrete help in dealing with the never-ending number of migrants.
In Lampedusa, the anger of many residents is growing and there is concern that they could become a permanent camp for irregular immigrants and that they could lose their current source of income, tourism. Meloni tried to allay fears on Sunday. She promised to bring refugees to the mainland more quickly in the future. However, there are increasing logistical problems there too.
Migrants are hungry and thirsty: Dramatic scenes now also on the mainland
She failed just one day later. Because now the capacity for refugees is collapsing in Sicily too. From the Porto Empedocle reception center on the south coast, it was reported that migrants were leaving the facility en masse in search of food and water. “This hotspot, which was only supposed to accommodate 200 to 250 people in transit, now holds at least 2,000,” the newspaper quoted La Republica the mayor. The refugees are exposed to inhumane conditions. The transfer to the mainland has been stopped, so the problem on Lampedusa is increasing again – a spiral of problems.
For Meloni it is clear that there is only one solution that works: to stop people from getting into the smugglers’ boats and setting course for Italy. Your argument becomes more acute. When von der Leyen spoke at the press conference in the small airport in Lampedusa about this and that help in looking after those who had arrived and about the importance of having a smart right to asylum, Meloni listened with a straight face. Only at one point – when von der Leyen said: “It’s not the smugglers, but we decide who can come to the EU” – Meloni nodded.
This fits with her video from Friday evening, in which she suddenly addressed the migrants directly and told them: “It’s not worth it for you to trust the smugglers. If you come to Italy illegally, you will be arrested and then deported.” That is the message that is now coming from Italy.