Meloni invited the head of the European Commission to visit Lampedusa with her to see the conditions firsthand and called for a new European Union migration deal with Tunisia to be put into effect. “Obviously, Italy and Europe cannot welcome this massive influx of people, especially when these migrant flows are being managed by unscrupulous traffickers,” she said. The influx has occurred despite an EU-inked accord with Tunisia to stem the smuggling operations in exchange for economic assistance. Meloni proposed a series of measures to crack down on migrants and traffickers that she said would be tabled at an upcoming Cabinet meeting. “I came to support the Italian people and government, because Lampedusa today and the Italian borders are the borders of the whole of Europe,” Marechal told Italian reporters.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 16, 2023 17:37 UTC