Migrants: the Interior Ministry’s plan

This time it is the Minister of the Interior himself who gives the alarm of the invasion of migrants on our coasts. The day before yesterday, at the council of ministers, Matteo Piantedosi announced that more than 400,000 people are expected to arrive by the end of the year.

For this he presented an “Action Plan” to face and manage the emergency, which is destined to explode in the summer. And now La Stampa is able to reconstruct the points in which the Plan develops. Starting from the photograph of the influx, increased by 303%, from 1 January to 28 March, compared to the same period of 2022, up to priority interventions such as “the control of the Tunisian maritime borders through joint patrols at sea and on land and the strengthening in ‘area of ​​the port of Sfax of intelligence activity aimed at countering the construction and outfitting of ships and small boats by criminal organizations’. Furthermore, the collaboration with the countries of origin of the migrants and the declaration of the state of emergency for the island of Lampedusa will be important “which would immediately allow the adoption of extra ordinance measures aimed at allowing the rental of air and naval assets for the transfer of migrants and the management of the hotspot in derogation from current legislation”. The aim is also to create new reception centers both in Lampedusa and in Pantelleria.

But before going further into the details, it is useful to remember that the main attention of the Interior Ministry is concentrated on Tunisia and Cyrenaica (the eastern part of Libya dominated by the politics of Khalifa Haftar, who does not control the exodus of migrants in any way). In fact, 27,219 people arrived between 1 January and 28 March, mostly from Tunisia (15,537) and Cyrenaica (4,556). The most common nationalities declared by migrants at the time of landing are: Ivorian, Guinean, Pakistani, Bengali, Tunisian, Egyptian, Cameroonian. Sicily, with 22,148 arrivals, is confirmed as the main landing region followed by Calabria (3,405).

The Piantedosi Plan therefore provides for the implementation of a series of activities that reduce departures and increase repatriations. While the government is committed “to relaunching strategic dialogue, at a political and operational level, with the Tunisian authorities, also through the involvement of the European Commission”, it is asked to strengthen, as mentioned, the patrolling of the Tunisian coasts and the commitment of the 007 to hinder the construction of ships and punts. On the Libyan front, it is necessary “to reach agreements with the authorities that control Cyrenaica from which an increase in arrivals is recorded (from 2,891 in 2022 to 4,556 in the first three months of March 2023) for a strengthening of the actions to prevent departures”. To identify other areas to be allocated to the very first reception “an operational table was set up with the State Property Agency and with the Defense General Staff”. And for the surveillance of migrants, one could “involve a contingent of soldiers from the “Safe Roads” operation”. Furthermore, “a financial contribution of 500 euros as an alternative to reception for asylum seekers whose application has been rejected” is hypothesized.

Finally, the network of Cprs (Repatriation Centers) for irregular migrants will be expanded.