Migrants have been pouring into the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa this month. Over 100 on Monday and 344 on Wednesday; the previous week 269 landed, and at the start of April more than 1,000 arrived in a 48-hour period. They are Eritreans, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Guineans, Moroccans, Syrians, Malaysians, Somalis and Senegalese but the three nationalities most heavily represented are Bangladeshis, Egyptians and Pakistanis.
Most told their rescuers that they set out from Libya. So much for Giorgia Meloni’s efforts to persuade Libya to work with her to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean. Last year the Italian PM, supported by the EU, signed deals with Libya and Tunisia; in exchange for mountains of cash, there were promises to stop the small boats leaving for Lampedusa.
Meloni was elected to power in September 2022 with a pledge to drastically reduce illegal immigration, but twelve months later, some 15,000 migrants landed on Lampedusa in a matter of days.
Europeans aren’t indifferent, they’re informed
Meloni is often held up as an example of a European leader who has cracked the migrant conundrum, but clearly she is still a work in progress.
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