Italy’s interior minister admits to failure in the fight against the influx of immigrants

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency quoting Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni promised in the 2022 election campaign to curb illegal immigration, but the number of migrant arrivals rose again last year.

In this situation, the Italian government admitted its failure in the fight against illegal immigration last year.

Matteo Piantdossi, the Minister of the Interior of Italy, in a conversation with the newspaper La Stampa, published on New Year’s Eve, acknowledged that the number of migrant arrivals in 2023 “certainly does not correspond to the objective of the policy measures that the government is considering in various directions to combat human trafficking.”

According to the report of the Italian Ministry of Interior, 155,754 immigrants have entered Italy until December 29, most of them by sea and through the Central Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile, the number of arrivals was 103,846 in the same period last year and 67,040 in 2021.

As ​​usual, the most arrivals are in the summer months when It was recorded that stable high-pressure weather and relatively calm seas dominate the center of the Mediterranean.

Accordingly, in July 2023, 23,482 immigrants arrived in Italy and the peak arrival 25,673 people were registered monthly in August. When it comes to the countries of origin of immigrants, Guinea is at the top, followed by Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh and Egypt.

Accordingly, the number of minors Unaccompanied among immigrants increased from 14,044 in 2022 to 17,283 last year. Last year, most of the migrant boats from Tunisia reached the island of Lampedusa, the southernmost part of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2022, Libya was still the most important transit country for migrants from sub-Saharan countries and Asia.

In the last days of 2023, several boats with migrants arrived in Lampedusa again. In addition, German aid organization Sea-Eye reported that 106 rescued migrants disembarked from the Sea-Eye 4 rescue ship in the southern Italian city of Brindisi on Saturday. The German aid agency announced that these migrants included 45 young children, some of whom were unaccompanied. Piantedossi tried to highlight the successes of the center-right coalition, which has been in power since October 2022 and led by Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, in the fight against illegal immigration.

He said : Thanks to agreements with the governments of Tunisia and Libya, 121,883 refugees were stopped last year on their way to Europe via the central Mediterranean Sea. Hundreds of smugglers have also been arrested. The minister did not say how to accurately determine the number of migrants who are said to have been stopped by Tunisian and Libyan institutions on land and at sea.

Asylum Agency The European Union has announced that the number of asylum seekers across the EU will be “more than one million” in 2023. In October, about 123,000 applications were filed, the highest monthly figure in seven years. The European agency does not expect a significant decrease in the number of asylum seekers in the next few years. According to the European agency, 937,000 applications were registered in the European Union by the end of October. which has increased by 22% compared to the same period last year. The exact total number for 2023 will not be available until next year.

Approximately 326,000 asylum applications were submitted in Germany by the end of November, according to the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. has increased by 52% compared to the first eleven months of the previous year. According to the European Union Asylum Agency, Germany remains the most important destination country for asylum seekers in the European Union. France and Italy are following suit.

Campaigning for early parliamentary elections in September 2022, Meloni, the leader of the right-wing conservative party Brothers of Italy, promised that if he wins and In the elections and the formation of the next government, his party will significantly reduce illegal immigration to Italy. Left-wing opposition parties accuse Meloni’s government of failing in its immigration policy.

At the same time, the Italian government led by Meloni has very strict rules against immigrants. put on the agenda and, among other things, created restrictions on the rescue of refugees by rescue organizations in the Mediterranean Sea.

Meloni also agreed with the countries of origin to facilitate the deportation process. He has put the asylum seekers on the agenda and in this regard, he has recently conducted negotiations with some countries, including Albania.

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