Italy Declares State Of Emergency As The Number Of Migrants Rises

According to state television, Italy’s right-wing government has proclaimed a six-month national state of emergency to enable it to deal with a surge in migrant arrivals in the southernmost parts of the country.

According to state TV, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Cabinet agreed to declare a state of emergency to address the migrant flow, and a special commissioner was anticipated to be created. As part of the measure, initial money of €5 million was also agreed upon.

Italy’s ruling coalitions likewise declared a state of emergency during the Covid-19 outbreak, allowing the Cabinet to order numerous coping measures by decree and temporarily obviate the often drawn-out parliamentary process for funding and rules.

“Let’s be clear, this doesn’t resolve the problem, whose solution is tied to a mindful and responsible intervention of the European Union,” Italian news outlet ANSA cited Nello Musumeci, the minister of civil protection and sea policies, as stating.

With varying degrees of success, Ms. Meloni’s government has pushed for greater solidarity from other EU nations, who frequently break their commitments to take in some of the asylum seekers seeking to find family or employment in northern Europe.

According to statistics from the Interior Ministry, 31,000 migrants have disembarked since the year began, either after being saved by Italian military boats or humanitarian ships, or after arriving in Italy on their own. That is over four times the 8,000 or so for the comparable periods in the two preceding years.

The number of migrants arriving, who leave in unsafe boats that smugglers launch from northern African coastlines, appears destined to increase.

A smugglers’ boat with some 700 passengers was anticipated to arrive in the port of Catania, a significant city in eastern Sicily, early on Wednesday.

The disabled fishing boat was being escorted toward land by Italian coast guard boats when a malfunction required towing, which slowed its progress.

As stormy waves made it too unsafe for the coast guard to transfer 100 or so of the passengers, it was decided to keep the remaining migrants on board until the ship could dock. A recent day saw 26 migrant boats arrive at Lampedusa, a little Italian island south of Sicily, many of them without the need for rescue.

The facility on Lampedusa, which houses migrants so they can be temporarily identified as a first step toward any asylum application, was struggling under the constant influx of arrivals.

There were 3,000 individuals there recently even though the shelter was only designed to hold 350 to 400. To move hundreds of them to Sicily or the mainland, Italy rented empty commercial vessels.

Some 1,600 migrants were residing in the Lampedusa building on Tuesday, and officials hoped that the weather would clear up in time for 400 of them to be transported off the island by ferry by nightfall.

According to Lorena Tortorici, director of the migrant center, “There are many women with small children, plus there are unaccompanied minors. We are in an emergency. The staff are trying to do what they can.”

According to the Interior Minister’s count, the majority of the migrants who have arrived so far this year are from the Ivory Coast, followed by persons from Guinea, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Bangladesh.

Most of the smugglers’ boats that traveled the risky central Mediterranean route for years left from western Libya. Yet, the majority of the journeys in recent months have departed from Tunisia or eastern Libya. Another route departs from Turkey and heads south toward Calabria or Puglia on the Italian mainland.