European Border Surveillance System

• This was a record-breaking figure for an island of around 6,000 inhabitants.
• Migrants are kept separate from the local population and identified before being transferred to Sicily or other centres in Italy.
• According to InfoMigrants, more than 84,300 people arrived in Italy by sea between 1 January and 23 July, an increase of 144% on 2022.

Who is arriving at Lampedusa?

• On board the boats arriving in Lampedusa from Tunisia, there are refugees and migrants from various African countries.
• The majority are young men or unaccompanied minors, but there are also women, some of them pregnant, and children.
• It is likely that these numbers will increase again in the wake of recent catastrophic flooding in Libya.
• The socioeconomic situation in Tunisia has also worsened, with high inflation and a lack of jobs hitting residents hard.

The Commission’s 10 point plan

• The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced a 10-point plan the day after her visit to Lampedusa.
• Other measures include increasing returns, prevention of departures through the establishment of anti-trafficking partnerships in countries of origin and transit, and taking action against traffickers.
• Two measures of note in the plan are those on implementing the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding and on exploring options for expanding naval missions in the Mediterranean.

The required response

• The short term priority for the EU needs to be supporting Italy so it can take in people who arrive and manage the situation better.
• The principle of mandatory solidarity which was agreed in June is fundamental to this, as it establishes a system for allocating asylum seekers among all EU member states.