The Meloni government’s hard line on illegal immigration is confirmed and Italy wants the EU to cooperate on the ‘epochal challenge’ of migration, Home Affairs Minister Matteo Piantedosi said in the Italian senate on Wednesday.

The government’s goal, Piantedosi said, is to stop illegal immigration and to urge the EU to develop “a great migration policy” to tackle an “epochal challenge”, which is immigration.

The minister points out that the government has “no intention of failing in its duty of welcome and solidarity for people fleeing war and persecution”, but neither does it intend to back down, reaffirming the principle that “no one enters Italy illegally.”

According to data published by the ministry, 9,956 migrants arrived in Italy in 2021 and another 11,090 in 2022. “As of 10 November, there were 69,078 applications for international protection submitted in Italy, 56 per cent more than last year,” the minister said.

“By comparing the data on arrivals, the data on the submission of asylum applications and their limited acceptance, it can be deduced that most of the people arriving in Italy are driven by economic motivations and therefore have no right to remain in the country”, he said.

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In reference to NGO ships ferrying migrants to the Italian coast, Piantedosi explained that the ‘pos’ must be identified by the state responsible for the SAR (Search and Rescue) area where the events took place, in cooperation with the flag state of the ships and neighbouring coastal states.

In the case of the Ocean Viking, Piantedosi points to Malta and Libya as the competent states.

“The request for a ‘pos’ in Italian territory should have been sent to the Italian authorities by the flag state of the NGO ships, not by them,” the minister said.

“Italy cannot be left alone; we need to show solidarity at the European level,” said EPP president Manfred Weber after a meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni, on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali, told the press that she had “reasoned” with European Council President Charles Michel to “organize meetings to put solutions on the table” on illegal migration, “a matter on which it is better to collaborate than to argue”.

Source: Euractiv