Migrants, target Lampedusa. EU doubts about the state of emergency – Corriere.it

The state of emergency is now there. The squeeze on special humanitarian protection permits and on permanence in the CPR has not yet: the two government amendments to the Cutro decree were expected yesterday in the Constitutional Affairs commission in the Senate, but everything has been postponed until today. Officially awaiting the verification of the coverage by the Mef. In reality, the exact quantification of the needs has not yet arrived at the Accounting Office, a symptom that the text is still under discussion. Disagreements with the League are leaking out which, according to the allies, tend to “some forcing” in its attempt to tighten the links.

In the meantime, however, there is one certainty: this was the quarter in which there have been more victims in the Mediterranean since 2017. This was reported by the UN pointing the finger at the “intolerable persistent humanitarian crisis”. “With more than 20,000 deaths on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have normalized,” said Antonio Vittorino, head of the UN’s International Organization for Migration. Calling for the restoration of effective patrolling at sea. Also to lighten the situation of the Lampedusa hotspot.

The government aims to empty it immediately. Starting the transfers to other structures, also to be set up thanks to the special powers of the state of emergency. The mayor of the island Filippo Mannino is asking at least for the restoration of the reception ships. But the situation is increasingly critical. The data provided on the occasion of the one hundred and seventy-first anniversary of the founding of the Police also show this. In 2022, 105,131 migrants landed in Italy following 2,539 landings. An upward leap of 55.80% after the decrease in the two-year period 2017-2019. A situation, highlights the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, which “a single country can hardly take charge of without a joint, lucid and well-organized action at a European level”. Since the beginning of the year, underlines the head of the Police Lamberto Giannini, “39 smugglers have been arrested, a sign of attention to the southern shore of the Mediterranean”. An action “all the more extraordinary the more it manages to maintain normality” highlighted the minister.

An effort that has received praise also by the head of state, Sergio Mattarella: «Combining rigor and balance, every day the members of the State Police are interpreters of the constitutional values ​​of solidarity and social cohesion, such as the contribution offered on the occasion of recent emergency events and the complex activity in the field of immigration and services for the integration of foreigners».

But there is no good news from Brussels. Italy’s decision to declare a state of emergency is being evaluated, defined as a “national measure originating from a very difficult situation”. But our request for help is rejected. A spokesman for the EU executive reports: “Italy has asked for financial assistance due to the increase in the arrivals of migrants in particular due to the situation in Lampedusa”. But Italy, he points out, receives support from the EU “with a wide range of measures”, including “expertise in the field” and is one of the “main beneficiaries of the fund for migration and integration and of the new programming period”.