Lampedusa declares a "state of emergency" after the arrival of 7,000 migrants in 48 hours

The Italian island of Lampedusa has not registered the arrival of any boat with migrants in the early hours of Thursday, an apparent truce after more than 7,000 people arrived in the two previous days to this small enclave of the Mediterranean.

On Tuesday alone, there were more than 5,000 arrivals and on Wednesday night around 7,000 migrants crowded into the reception center, saturated by this surge.. The figure had already dropped this Thursday morning to below 4,500, after a series of transfers.

The City Council has declared a “state of emergency” and the mayor, Filippo Mannino, has marked the evacuation of all migrants as a “priority”, a prior step to what should be “structural solutions”. “We do not have the structures and logistics to deal with all this,” Mannino said, reports the RAI channel.

More than 120,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy so far this year, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 2,000 have lost their lives along the way, including a five-month-old baby who drowned on Wednesday during a rescue operation.

For Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, what is happening in Lampedusa “is the symbol of a Europe that is not there”. The far-right politician has raised the tone and terms in several interviews to refer to this crisis: “When 120 ships disembark in a few hours, it is not a spontaneous episode, it is an act of war.”

Salvini considers that there is an “organized exodus” by the mafias, with the aim of “putting an uncomfortable Government in difficulties”. Giorgia Meloni's Executive has advocated toughening policies, as well as limiting the work of NGOs carrying out rescue operations in the Mediterranean.

Brussels emphasizes that it provides support

For its part, the European Commission has responded to criticism by defending its presence in the area and emphasizing that it provides operational and financial support to Italy to manage the arrival and reception of migrants.. In this sense, the community spokesperson for the Interior, Anita Hipper, has stressed that the EU has deployed 450 agents from Europol, Frontex and the EU Asylum Agency in the area, in addition to paying 40 million for the management of reception and transportation of migrants.

“President Ursula von der Leyen is in close contact with Meloni and there will be a call this afternoon to see the situation and how we can provide further support from the Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johannson, and the Italian Minister, Matteo Piantedosi,” he explained. at a press conference from Brussels.