Ursula von der Leyen, who visited the island with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, pleaded for a “European response” to the arrival of several thousand people in less than a week.
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“Irregular immigration is a European challenge that needs a European response”, pleaded the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Sunday September 17, from the island of Lampedusa (Italy). Several thousand migrants arrived there in less than a week. The head of the European executive calls “member states to welcome” some of the arrivals.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, accompanies him on this trip to Lampedusa. “It is the future that Europe wants to give itself that is at stake here”declared the far-right leader.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, must go to Italy “in the coming days”. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni spoke by telephone on Saturday, and committed, according to the Elysée, to “strengthen cooperation at European level (…) to find effective, immediate and longer-term solutions to this crisis”.
New transfers on Sunday
The Italian Red Cross, which runs the Lampedusa reception center, said on Sunday that 1,500 people were still in the 400-capacity facility, despite many migrants being transferred to Sicily. “Other transfers are planned during the day”said the organization.
Large NGO ships, such as the Geo Barents of Doctors Without Borders, which rescued nearly 500 migrants in eleven operations, are being directed to major Italian ports. But dozens of small boats continue their crossing of the Mediterranean and arrive directly in Lampedusa. Before their speech, Ursula von der Leyen and Giorgia Meloni went to the port to observe some of these boats.
According to the United Nations migration agency, around 8,500 people arrived on this small island between Monday and Wednesday, more than the local population.