Paris
France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Tuesday (September 19), his government will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy's tiny Lampedusa island which saw the arrival of a record number of aliens last week.
Speaking on French television, Darmanin said the French government had conveyed to Italy that it was "ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations", citing the example of Ivory Coast and Senegal. However, France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, he added.
Last week, more than 8,500 migrants crashed on the island whose total population is only 6,000, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration. Images and videos of thousands of migrants, arriving on the island, scaling the perimeter fence and wandering around went viral on social media platforms.
Assessing the gravity of the situation, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen travelled to the island over the weekend and announced a 10-point emergency action plan.
Watch | Lampedusa grapples with surge in migrant arrivals
However, her plan of sharing the burden of new arrival met with stiff resistance from bloc members. Prior to France, the right-wing governments in Poland and Hungary refused to accept the migrants from Italy.
Reflecting on the situation, Italy's Minister Giorgia Meloni said the pressure of migrants arriving in the country was "unsustainable" and called on the European Union to intervene.
"The migratory pressure that Italy has been experiencing since the beginning of the year is unsustainable," she said, adding that it sprang from the "difficult international situation" in Africa. The figure is almost double what was recorded in the same period of 2022.
Also read | Migrant crisis: EU chief and Italy's PM visit Lampedusa, promise swift action
Why Lampedusa?
Lampedusa, located just 90 miles (around 145 kilometres) off the eastern coast of Tunisia is Italy's first port of call for people crossing from North Africa.
Recent months have seen a great influx of migrants using Tunisia as the main departure point to enter Europe. Earlier, most migrants attempting to leave the conflict-ridden zones of Africa and the Middle East used to take the Libya route to enter the continent.
However, the geographical closeness to Lampedusa and inaction from the Italian authorities to stop the arrivals has meant migrants are increasingly choosing this route to enter Europe.
Cumulatively, over 118,500 boat migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year, according to Italy's interior ministry data.
(With inputs from agencies)
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