“Italy is one of the nations that today suffers most from strong migratory pressures, but we all know that those who believed that, given the situation that the African continent is experiencing, the migratory problem could be closed within the borders of a single European nation are clearly making a mistake and is making a big mistake.” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke about the hottest topic under debate during a press conference in Malta at the end of the Med9 summit. “We reiterate that the only way to seriously address the problem of migration and truly help the most fragile, starting with those who truly have the right to international protection, is to bring it back to legality. You cannot enter Europe illegally, that’s not what the traffickers decide. So we need to give serious answers to an Africa that is increasingly in difficulty,” she added.
For Meloni “the action plan presented by the president of the European Commission, von der Leyen, is an excellent starting point, but it is essential to make it concrete and operational”. For Italy, it is necessary that “readmission agreements for repatriations are a European issue”, that the fight against traffickers and “financial flows from criminal organizations are reinforced”, that there are “agreements to support North African countries in control of maritime space and the blocking of departures”. In this sense, Meloni expects “the immediate implementation of the agreement with Tunisia, which means building a new partnership with Africa”.
Meloni also had a trilateral meeting with Emmanuel Macron and von der Leyen. And he responded to Germany on the Migration and Asylum Pact. “I understand the position of the German government – said Meloni – but at this point, if they want to go back on the NGOs, then we propose another change according to which the country responsible for receiving migrants who are transported on an NGO ship, must be the country of the flag from the NGO ship. I understand the position of others, but you cannot show solidarity across other people’s borders”, is the blow that comes loud and clear in Berlin. “For us, the redistribution” of migrants “was never the priority, it is not the priority of this government. For me, the problem will never be completely resolved if each country thinks about dumping it on another – said Meloni – the only way is through the external dimension. We cooperated a lot in the Pact on Migration and Asylum, we also voted in favor because, in our opinion, it improved conditions compared to the previous rules. Yesterday Germany arrived with some changes, one in particular, the one on NGOs that represents a setback for us. Yesterday we had several NGO ships, including German ones, in our international waters, we asked for time because it couldn’t be decided like that.”
Source: IL Tempo

Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.