Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Melonireceived this Monday in Rome the premier British, Keir Starmerin a bilateral meeting in which they agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fight against human trafficking to curb illegal immigration. The Labour Prime Minister, who took power on July 5, has set himself the goal of relaunching the United Kingdom’s relationship with European countries after the tensions over Brexit, and assured that Italy is a strategic ally of London.
Starmer said he was “very interested” in knowing how Italy had managed to “drastically” reduce the arrival of irregular migrants across the Mediterranean in the last two years, as well as the work to tackle criminal groups involved in human trafficking. “It seems that this is due to the previous work that has been done in some of the countries where people come from. So I am very interested in knowing what that previous work was like,” said the British Prime Minister. “I have always thought that prevention and stopping these people from travelling from their countries of origin is the best way to deal with this issue,” he added.
“No country alone can dismantle these trafficking networks,” said Meloni, agreeing with his British counterpart, who believes that the migration issue is a “common challenge” for Europe that must be addressed from the start.
Italy claims to have reduced the arrival of irregular migrants through the Mediterranean by more than 60% between January and August 2024 compared to the same period of the previous year, when the Italian coasts experienced an upsurge in arrivals after several years of decline due to the pandemic. However, the data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior that Meloni’s government boasts of are part of a general reduction in irregular arrivals to the Mediterranean coasts in the last year, as reported by UNHCR, mainly due to the increase in repression against migrants in both Tunisia and Libya, two countries of origin and transit with which Italy has signed agreements to speed up returns and finance the coast guard that prevents the departure of barges.
Among the strategies implemented by Italy in the area of migration is the bilateral agreement signed last year with Albania to build two detention centres to process asylum or expulsion requests from migrants trying to reach the transalpine country via the Mediterranean. The facility, which will be able to accommodate up to 36,000 migrants rescued by Italian vessels annually, was due to open its doors in the spring, but will not be operational for “several weeks,” Meloni said.
In a joint press conference after the meeting, Starmer acknowledged that he was also studying the controversial protocol between Rome and Tirana, which in turn was inspired by the failed proposal of his predecessor, the former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunakwho tried to reach an agreement to deport “illegal immigrants” from the United Kingdom to Rwanda. A controversial project that did not materialize and that Starmer defined as a “trick” that cost the British 700 million pounds.
“We agree that we should not be afraid to explore new solutions. We have talked about the ‘Italy-Albania Protocol’, which the UK government is paying close attention to, and we have provided all the elements to understand this innovative mechanism,” Meloni explained. At his side, Labour’s Starmer nodded and added, alluding to “British pragmatism”: “When we face a challenge with our allies, we talk and see if their measures work.”
He premier He traveled to Italy accompanied by the former police chief Martin Hewittnow at the head of the newly created Border Security Command. Before meeting Meloni, the British delegation visited the Italian National Immigration Coordination Centre to learn first-hand about the Italian protocol regarding irregular immigration and “collaborate even more effectively by sharing analysis, data, intelligence and also our strategies,” said Starmer, who stressed that his government has already repatriated more than 3,000 immigrants since taking power last July.
Meloni and his British counterpart also discussed major international crises, especially the war in Ukraine and the Middle East. In this regard, both promised to continue working to support Kyiv “as long as necessary,” but avoided answering questions about the possible use by Ukrainian troops of “Western” long-range missiles on Russian territory.