Italy declares state of emergency after 3,000 migrants arrive in three days

Italy’s right-wing government has declared a six-month national state of emergency following a sharp surge in migrant flows across the Mediterranean.

Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, said the decree would allow for a “more efficient and timely management” of flows.

It means Rome can bypass normal EU public bid processes and certain regulations to quickly build structures for sheltering, processing and repatriating migrants.

The government has set aside €5m (£4.4m) for the measure, which also calls for the appointment of a special commissioner.

Pressure to act has been mounting since a migrant boat wrecked on the Calabrian coast on February 26, leaving more than 90 dead - with bodies washing up on the shoreline for weeks.

So far this year, 31,000 migrants have arrived in Italy, either on their own or after being rescued - quadruple that in the same period last year. More than 3,000 have arrived since Sunday alone.

Most are from Ivory Coast, according to government data, followed by people from Guinea, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia and Bangladesh.

A worsening economic and political crisis in Tunisia has exacerbated the problem, with human traffickers using beaches near Sfax, just 260 kilometres from the Italian island of Lampedusa, as opposed to departure points in Libya.

Since a fiery speech on February 21 by Tunisian president Kais Saied in which he lashed out at the country’s sub-Saharan African population, many Ivory Coast guest workers have lost their jobs or faced violence and discrimination, prompting them to flee.

Ms Meloni has pressed the EU for more action, but pledges of solidarity have not yet turned into concrete help.

“Let’s be clear, this doesn’t resolve the problem, the solution of which is linked to a mindful and responsible intervention of the European Union,” Nello Musumeci, the Civil Protection and Sea Policies minister said after the cabinet meeting.

Five-Star Movement leader and former premier Giuseppe Conte lambasted the move as “a far cry from the false election promises of unrealizable naval blockades” and recalled how he was criticized by the Right-wing for imposing similar decrees during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marwa Mahmoud, an Egyptian-born Democratic Party city councillor in Reggio Emilia, said the Right-wing government has failed to pursue sensible solutions such as amending the Dublin agreement or creating safe and legal humanitarian corridors.

“Why when Italians go abroad do we choose to call it a brain drain?” asked Mahmoud in an interview with Repubblica. “Perhaps those arriving have the same ambitions as those who immigrated to America from Italy 100 years ago.”

Dozens of unseaworthy vessels have been detected in recent days. One carrying nearly 700 passengers arrived Wednesday in the Port of Catania, with the hotspot centre in Lampedusa swollen to nearly four times its capacity.