Von der Leyen announces in Lampedusa a European plan to stop irregular immigration

The visit of the European leader has coincided with the arrival of more than 1,000 migrants to the island in the last few hours, far from the more than 10,000 people who arrived in three days in the middle of this week.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Sunday from the Italian island of Lampedusa, the epicenter of the Mediterranean migration crisis, a European action plan to contain irregular immigration and share the management of people transfers. migrants arriving on the Italian coast.

“I have come to Lampedusa to say that illegal immigration is a European challenge and requires a European response,” said Von der Leyen, accompanied by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has requested the assistance of the European leader after the arrival of more than 10,000 migrants to the island in just three days.

The announced program consists of ten commitments, including a solidarity mechanism for other European countries to transfer migrants arriving in Lampedusa out of Italy, updating European legislation against human trafficking and defining new legal and safe humanitarian corridors.

Von der Leyen has also promised to increase aerial surveillance of the Mediterranean, through European agencies such as Frontex, and coordinate with countries of origin protocols to safely repatriate migrants who do not meet European asylum conditions.

“We must decide who enters the European Union, not the traffickers,” he said in his speech after visiting the reception center where dozens of barges from Africa arrive daily.

The visit of the European president has coincided with the arrival of more than 1,000 migrants to the island in the last few hours.

This situation completely overwhelmed the reception capacity of the island, whose area is 20 square kilometers, and led the leader of the Italian Executive to demand help from the European Union.

The European program represents a boost to the strategy defended by the far-right Meloni since she took office almost a year ago: abandon disputes over the distribution of migrants between European countries and focus efforts on stopping the departures through agreements with African states. .

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