(see related)
European Parliament President Roberta
Metsola has said it is the duty of the EU and its member States
to help Italy cope with the pressure it is under due to a surge
in the number of migrant boats arriving at the island of
Lampedusa from North Africa.
"A country that finds itself faced with the massive arrival of
migrant flows, like that at Lampedusa, an island of 6,000
citizens which suddenly receives 1,700 people one day, 3,000
another, cannot be left alone," Metsola told a pool of agencies
at the European Newsroom.
"And it cannot feel left alone;" she added.
The Italian interior ministry said Monday that 133,005 people
have arrived in Italy on migrant boats so far this year, almost
double the 69,806 that landed in the equivalent period last
year.
Metsola said the "internal and external dimension of
immigration" should not be separated, stressing the need to be
"coherent in the way we deal with neighbour countries".
The internal dimension regards the reception of migrants once
they are in the EU and the external one concerns efforts to try
to stop the migrant flows in the first place, including via
cooperation agreements with third countries like the Memorandum
of Understanding recently signed with Tunisia.
Metsola also expressed optimism that a breakthrough to end the
deadlock regarding the New Pact on Migration and Asylum of the
EU could come this week or next.
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