Se hai scelto di non accettare i cookie di profilazione e tracciamento, puoi aderire all’abbonamento "Consentless" a un costo molto accessibile, oppure scegliere un altro abbonamento per accedere ad ANSA.it.

Ti invitiamo a leggere le Condizioni Generali di Servizio, la Cookie Policy e l'Informativa Privacy.

Puoi leggere tutti i titoli di ANSA.it
e 10 contenuti ogni 30 giorni
a €16,99/anno

  • Servizio equivalente a quello accessibile prestando il consenso ai cookie di profilazione pubblicitaria e tracciamento
  • Durata annuale (senza rinnovo automatico)
  • Un pop-up ti avvertirà che hai raggiunto i contenuti consentiti in 30 giorni (potrai continuare a vedere tutti i titoli del sito, ma per aprire altri contenuti dovrai attendere il successivo periodo di 30 giorni)
  • Pubblicità presente ma non profilata o gestibile mediante il pannello delle preferenze
  • Iscrizione alle Newsletter tematiche curate dalle redazioni ANSA.


Per accedere senza limiti a tutti i contenuti di ANSA.it

Scegli il piano di abbonamento più adatto alle tue esigenze.

Europe must help Italy cope with migrant influx says Alfano

Europe must help Italy cope with migrant influx says Alfano

'Most are asylum seekers who don't want to stay in Italy'

Rome, 09 April 2014, 15:48

ANSA Editorial

ANSACheck

- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

-     ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano in an interview Wednesday said most migrants now disembarking on Italy's shores are political asylum seekers, and Europe must give Italy a hand in processing and relocating them.
    ''Hundreds of thousands are in Libya waiting to get on a boat'', Alfano told Sole 24 Ore financial paper's Radio24.
    ''It is of the essence that the international community set up refugee camps as well as bilateral control over coasts and departures''.
    The minister's comments followed on news that Italian authorities rescued some 4,000 migrants off several unseaworthy boats in the past 48 hours. Every year, tens of thousands of migrants arrive in Italy, which is the first landfall for those trying to reach Europe by boat from North Africa.
    Many die while attempting the hazardous crossing in rickety, overcrowded vessels after being charged exorbitant prices by human traffickers.
    After some 400 people drowned in two migrant-boat disasters in October 2013, Italy set up a surveillance and rescue operation called Mare Nostrum to prevent further deaths at sea. ''We are rescuing thousands of migrants with our ships'', Alfano continued. ''We must speed up procedures to expel those who have no right to stay, and to receive those who have a right to asylum''.
    Some 15,000 migrants have landed on Italy's coasts since the beginning of the year, Alfano said.
    ''Most asylum seekers don't even want to stay in Italy.
    Other countries must take these people in, because that's where they wanted to go in the first place'', the minister explained.
    ''Europe must understand that we can't take them all in.
    And the EU needs to boost our border defense system'', said Alfano.
    He went on to blast critics in the anti-immigration Northern League, which sponsored a law making illegal immigration a crime that was recently repealed.
    ''I would remind them that the migrant influx peaked in 2011, just after illegal immigration was criminalized'', the minister said.
    Also on Wednesday, the chairman of the Senate human rights commission refuted the minister's claims that Italy is under attack by a wave of migrants.
    ''This is not an invasion. We've known for a long time that this was going to happen'', said Senator Luigi Manconi. ''We should take a serious look at ourselves and at the reasons why we failed to take the necessary steps to receive people we can easily take care of, without involving other European countries''.
    ''Italy must do its part, and on this matter our conscience is not as clear as it should be'', he added.
    The country must put its own house in order, both in terms of domestic policy and of international treaties it has signed on to but doesn't always respect, the Senator pointed out.
   

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA

Not to be missed

Share

Or use

ANSA Corporate

If it is news,
it is an ANSA.

We have been collecting, publishing and distributing journalistic information since 1945 with offices in Italy and around the world. Learn more about our services.