Giorgia Meloni promised to take 'extraordinary measures' to deal with the influx of migrants

(Patria) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has promised to take "extraordinary measures" to deal with the influx of migrants, including a renewed call for a naval blockade of North Africa, after a week in which more than 6,000 people arrived in a single day on the island of Lampedusa from Tunisia, AP reported.

Meloni called on the leaders of the European Commission to visit Lampedusa with her to see the situation and called for the new EU migration agreement with Tunisia to come into effect.

In a video distributed by her office, Meloni said Europe needs a "change of paradigm" to deal with a range of factors in Africa - conflicts, instability, rising grain prices and climate crises, which she warned could encourage millions of people to risk their lives to come and live in Europe.

"It is clear that Italy and Europe cannot welcome this enormous influx of people, especially when these migration flows are managed by unscrupulous human traffickers," Meloni said.

Lampedusa, which is closer to Africa than mainland Italy, was flooded this week by thousands of people hoping to reach Europe from Tunisia, which has replaced Libya as the main base for migrant smuggling operations in the Mediterranean.

The Italian Red Cross said about 700 new arrivals were transferred from Lampedusa on Thursday and another 2,500 transfers were planned for Friday to try to alleviate pressure on the island's refugee center, which has a normal capacity of around 400 people. On Friday morning, the center hosted about 3,800 people, significantly fewer than the more than 6,000 registered this week, the Red Cross said.

The influx occurred despite an agreement signed by the EU with Tunisia to stop smuggling operations in exchange for economic aid. Meloni called for the agreement to be concretized and for the promised EU funds to be transferred to Tunisia.

The arrivals have put pressure on Meloni, who came to power last year as head of a right-wing government, promising to curb migration. Ahead of next year's European Parliament elections, her conservative coalition partner, the League party, has intensified criticism of the EU-Tunisia agreement, saying the increasing number of migrants shows it has clearly failed.

Meloni proposed a series of measures to curb migrants and traffickers, which she said would be proposed at the upcoming Government session. She warned future refugees that they would be detained and returned if they arrived illegally. "Our situation does not allow us to do otherwise," she said.

According to Interior Ministry statistics, nearly 126,000 people have arrived in Italy by boat so far this year, compared to 66,000 at this time last year and 42,000 in 2021. If the trend continues, this year could be close to the 2016 record, when around 132,000 migrants arrived by the end of September. 2016 was a record year for sea arrivals with a total of 181,000 people.