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Italian President Sergio Mattarella
has called on the European Union to bring in a collective
mechanism to manage the arrival of asylum seekers after Sunday's
migrant-boat disaster off Calabria in which scores of people
died.
In a statement expressing "pain" at the loss of life, the head
of State called for a "strong commitment from the international
community to remove the fundamental causes of migrant flows:
wars, persecution, terrorism and territories made inhospitable
by climate change.
"It is equally important," he added, "that the EU finally
assumes concrete responsibility for governing the phenomenon of
migrants to take them away from human traffickers by direct
efforts in migratory policy".
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was
"deeply saddened by the terrible shipwreck off the coast of
Calabria.
"The resulting loss of life of innocent migrants is a tragedy,"
she continued via Twitter.
"All together, we must redouble our efforts on the Pact on
Migration & Asylum and on the Action Plan on the Central
Mediterranean".
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni expressed "profound pain at the
many human lives taken by human traffickers".
But she also attacked those who "speculate with these deaths
after having gloried the illusion of unregulated immigration"
and said her government was committed to "impeding the
departure" of migrant boats in order to avoid such "tragedies".
Meloni's government is trying to discourage search-and-rescue
ships run by NGOs in the Mediterranean, saying they encourage
migrant boats to attempt hazardous sea crossings, and has passed
a decree regulating their activities .
Elly Schlein, the newly elected leader of the opposition,
centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said the government has the
disaster on its "conscience" after "approving a decree that
impedes sea rescues".
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