ROME, July 23 (Reuters) – Illegal migrant flows are harming all Mediterranean countries, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday, as she sought to forge a broad alliance of nations to fight human trafficking.
Toning down his hardline rhetoric of the past, Meloni told an international conference in Rome that his government was open to admitting more people through legal channels, as “Europe and Italy needed immigration.”
But he said more needs to be done to prevent migrants from trying to cross the dangerous Mediterranean by unauthorized means.
“Mass illegal immigration hurts each and every one of us. Nobody benefits from this, except criminal groups that enrich themselves at the expense of the most fragile and use their force even against governments, ”he said.
The President of the European Commission, Úrsula von der Leyen repeated Meloni’s point about offering legal routes to the 27-nation European Union (EU).
The EU and Tunisia, an important starting point for immigrants, signed last week a “strategic partnership” deal that includes cracking down on people smugglers and tightening borders.
Europe has pledged 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in aid to help Tunisia with its battered economy, with 100 million euros earmarked specifically to tackle illegal immigration.
“We want our agreement with Tunisia to be a template. A model for the future. For partnerships with other countries in the region,” von der Leyen said at the conference.
The EU could work with countries like Tunisia to expand their production of renewable energy to the benefit of all, he added.
Mohamed al-Menfi, head of Libya’s Presidential Council, appealed to wealthier nations for help.
“We are ready to participate effectively to stop the suffering of migrants,” he said.
THE POPE SPEAKS
Speaking to crowds in nearby St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis called on European and African governments to help migrants trapped in desert areas in North Africa and to ensure that the Mediterranean is never again “a theater of death” for those trying to cross.
Conference host Italy is struggling to cope with the number of unauthorized migrants arriving in hubs like its southernmost island of Lampedusa.
However, it also has an aging and shrinking population and needs more workers to support its economy.
Earlier This month, Italy committed to issuing 452,000 new work visas to non-EU citizens from 2023 to 2025, increasing the number of permits available each year to a maximum of 165,000 in 2025. In 2019, before COVID hit, Italy issued just 30,850 visas.
Arrivals in Italy are increasing this year with more than 83,000 people coming ashore so far compared to around 34,000 in the same period in 2022.
“We have to solve the immigration issue at its root,” said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
“We have to confront each other on the big issues of climate change, the fight against terrorism, disease, poverty.”
Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Edited by Conor Humphries
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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