Crisis in Lampedusa: The Impact of Migrant Overload and European Solidarity

2023-09-15 08:20:00

On Thursday evening, authorities in Lampedusa declared a state of emergency, following the arrival by sea of ​​around 7,000 migrants in less than 48 hours. A figure which (very) far exceeds the 4,00 places available in the reception center of the island, which itself has barely more than 6,000 inhabitants. Located between Sicily and Tunisia, this confetti of land has, for decades, served as a stopover for migrants coming to Europe. “Lampedusa has always welcomed them with open arms”, but “we have reached a point of no return and the island is in crisis”, declared Mayor Filippo Mannino on Thursday. The Rai television channel described several scenes of chaos in Lampedusa. Migrants climbing the rocks along the coast. A boat which overturned in the middle of a rescue operation, causing a Guinean mother and her baby to fall into the water, who will not survive. Migrants who fought for food and bottled water, distributed by the Red Cross…

Transfers are organized to Sicily to relieve congestion on the island. At the political level, Matteo Salvini, Minister of Transport, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (both from the far right, but from different parties) point out the absence of European solidarity for not recognizing the failure of their own strategy. Since January, around 126,000 migrants have landed in Italy. On Thursday, the European border guard agency Frontex noted that the number of arrivals by road from the central Mediterranean has almost doubled (+96%) compared to 2022.

Migrants gather in front of the operational center called “Hotspot” on the Italian island of Lampedusa, September 14, 2023. ©AFP or licensors

Tunisia, point of passage and escape

From now on, departures are mainly from Tunisia, where the boats that have landed in Lampedusa in recent days have departed. At issue: “the authoritarian drift of Tunisian President Saïed, his hate speech once morest migrants and the criminalization of civil society threaten Tunisians as much as sub-Saharan nationals living in the country”, explains Sara Prestianni, advocacy director for Euromed Rights (network of human rights organizations). Historically present in Tunisia, Guineans and Ivorians are today seeking to escape this context, as are the Tunisians. Alongside these three nationalities, we also find people from Mali and Burkina Faso on this route via Italy, countries undermined by coups, instability and the jihadist threat. Added to this is the fact that Tunisia is beginning to replace Libya as the gateway to Europe. “Migrants today know the horrors of Libya. Tunisia has therefore become a crossing point and a point of flight,” specifies Ms. Prestianni.

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The agreement between the EU and Tunisia is not working. Obviously, since it only legitimizes the Tunisian authoritarian drift which is the origin and the very cause of the increase in departures.

Pushed in the back by Rome, the European Union nevertheless announced, on July 16, an agreement with Tunis, which was to dry up these flows, in exchange for more than a billion euros in European aid. A victory for Giorgia Meloni, who campaigned by promising a “naval blockade” at sea before focusing instead on cooperation with Tunisia. “But this deal is not working. Obviously, since it only legitimizes the Tunisian authoritarian drift which is the origin and the very cause of the increase in departures,” believes Ms. Prestianni, whose observation is illustrated by the crisis in Lampedusa. The expert adds that in Italy, the management of migration has been disrupted by “the criminalization of NGOs and the dismantling of the Italian reception system” which Giorgia Meloni has intensified.

Why the “strategic” agreement between the European Union and Tunisia will define how Europe manages migration

France and Germany also find themselves impacted by this situation. The first sent reinforcements to the Italian border (southeast), noting a 100% increase in crossings via the Alpes-Maritimes. The second said on Wednesday that it had suspended the relocation of asylum seekers from Italy, planned to help this country on the front line of migratory flows. Berlin believes that Rome is not respecting its obligations and refusing to collect migrants who have continued, irregularly, their route to Germany (we call this “secondary movements”). Under the Dublin Regulation, it is the country through which an individual entered the EU – in this case Italy – which must offer them reception and process their asylum application. This gives the right to other member states to return asylum candidates to the country of first entry.

A role for Russia?

Germany is also facing a sharp increase in arrivals (+77% compared to 2022). This would be partly due to the “negligence” of the countries surrounding Germany (Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, etc.) which let migrants pass through rather than taking responsibility for them. Aware of European paranoia regarding migration, Russia is also suspected of fueling these flows, by bringing individuals back to Moscow before sending them to the EU, via its ally Belarus. Minsk had already used migration in 2021 to put pressure on the Union, following European sanctions once morest the Belarusian dictatorship. Once once more, Latvia records a record number of people trying to cross its borders from Belarus (892 cases in 7 days). On Thursday, Estonia said it was sending reinforcement teams to its Latvian neighbor to help it “counter the hybrid activities” of Minsk.

But the pressure is also being felt elsewhere in Europe. Greece is seeing an increase in arrivals from Turkey – a country with which the EU also concluded a migration agreement in 2016. If at the end of June 4,000 migrants were registered in camps on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos , just two months later, this figure rose to 9,137 people.

Same observation in Spain, where the number of migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands more than tripled to reach 2,891 people during the first two weeks of September, according to Archyde.com.

A structural phenomenon

According to Frontex, the number of irregular crossings of EU borders increased by 18% in 2023 to reach more than 232,350. This is the highest total for the January-August period since 2016. Between political manipulations, authoritarian excesses, persecution, conflicts, poverty and the consequences of climate change, the causes of this phenomenon are multiple. But that of a feeling of crisis is the same, namely “the absence of vision for managing migration” in Europe, observes Ms. Prestianni. “The right will try to create the idea of ​​the specter of invasion. In reality, we keep talking regarding ’emergence’ in terms of migration even though we are facing a structural phenomenon. And that these are figures which might be very well absorbed at the European level if there was the desire for a shared welcome”.

Member States painfully give birth to a “historic” agreement on European migration policy

After years of psychodrama, the Twenty-seven hope to adopt the Pact on Migration and Asylum before June 2024, supposed to improve common policy in this area and solidarity. Reflecting the very small common denominator between the positions of the Member States, these reforms however risk not protecting Europe completely from chaotic management of migration.

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