Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister
Antonio Tajani said Monday that the situation regarding the
arrival of migrants from Africa "is not explosive, it has
already exploded".
Speaking to reporters at the Italian consulate in New York,
Tajani said he intended to raise the issue of migratory pressure
from Africa at the 2023 UN General Assembly.
"The are no walls that are capable of halting the movement of
millions and millions of people," he said.
"Look at the history of the Barbarian Invasions - the Roman
army, the most powerful in military history, could not stop
them".
On Sunday European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
visited Lampedusa with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni after
being invited to the Italian island to see the situation for
herself.
Over 127,000 migrants have entered Italy so far this year,
approximately twice as many as in the same period in 2022,
according to interior ministry data. Many of them enter via
Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island.
Meloni has said the surge in migrant arrivals has put Italy
under "unsustainable pressure".
On Sunday von der Leyen presented a 10-point action plan for
Lampedusa, including a possible new EU naval mission in the
Mediterranean.
Tajani has said that even the EU is not capable of addressing
the issue on its own and has called for the involvement of the
UN and NATO:
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