Uncontrolled migration is putting the future of Europe at stake, Italy warns as the number of people arriving illegally returns to crisis levels of 2015

Italy’s far-right prime minister has claimed that the future of Europe is at stake unless the EU can stop the wave of uncontrolled migration across the Mediterranean.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the populist Brothers of Italy party, made the statement alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where thousands of illegal migrants have landed on their journey to Europe.

“The future that Europe wants for itself is at stake here,” 46-year-old Meloni said at a press conference on the island.

‘Europe’s future depends on its ability to tackle groundbreaking challenges of our time, and the challenge of illegal immigration is certainly one of them.

She said Italy cannot bear the full weight of responsibility for combating irregular migration: “We are all risking our future on this issue. At the very least we need an EU naval mission against smugglers.”

She spoke on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where the migrant population far exceeds the local Italian population

“If we don’t all work together seriously to combat illegal departures, the numbers will overwhelm not only the border countries, but all others as well,” she warned.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stood side by side with Italy’s first female prime minister and unveiled her 10-point immigration aid plan to support the island of around 7,000 inhabitants, telling them: ‘You can join the European Union calculate. ‘

The EU has pledged to move the approximately 8,500 migrants currently living on the island to other parts of the bloc.

It will also step up border surveillance by expanding Frontex, the EU’s border agency, with more equipment.

Von der Leyen also pledged to increase migrants’ access to legal channels, telling the press conference: “The better we are with legal migration, the stricter we can be with irregular migration.” She added: ‘Irregular migration is a European challenge and needs a European response. We will decide who comes to the EU and under what circumstances, and not the smugglers and human traffickers.”

New EU figures show that the number of asylum applications is almost the same as in 2015, when the EU experienced a major migrant crisis

Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) announced her ten-point pledge to help Lampedusa

This is the second time Meloni and von der Leyen have publicly collaborated on immigration issues

The big EU pledge comes just three months after both von der Leyen and Meloni traveled to Tunisia to seek their cooperation in the fight against irregular migration across the Mediterranean.

Meloni wants the EU to speed up a €785m (£676m) migration deal with Tunisia, which would help the country send migrants back to their countries of origin and strengthen its coastguard with new and better equipment.

The EU’s latest pledge also comes days after France stepped up its border security and Germany suspended a voluntary migrant redistribution program, complaining that Italy was not respecting EU rules on accepting returned migrants.

The German government later reinstated the program after Von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel intervened.

European sentiment towards migrants has deteriorated as Frontex data shows the EU has experienced a 96% increase in irregular crossings via the Central Mediterranean route to Italy this year.

So far this year, almost 128,000 migrants have arrived in the EU via Italian soil, twice as many as last year.

Italy is currently the hardest hit by the migration crisis. Half of all irregular border crossings into the EU picked up by Frontex took place in Italy.

The pair toured the island and spoke to locals about their experiences with the current migration crisis

There are currently thousands of migrants living in Lampedusa

This year alone, almost 128,000 migrants have arrived on the coast in Italy

This month, EU officials said they expected more than a million asylum seekers to make claims this year alone.

In 2015, 1.2 million asylum applications were filed in the EU, plunging the continent into crisis as more and more EU citizens turned to hardline anti-immigration parties.

The 2015 migrant crisis also killed hundreds of migrants as EU countries were unable to cope with the massive influx of people. Many bodies were found frozen in refrigerated trucks, in the wrecks of capsized boats and washed up on beaches.

In September this year, a shocking image of the body of Alyan Kurdi, a two-year-old Syrian refugee, washed up on a Turkish beach after a failed attempt to reach Greece, spotlighted EU countries for not doing enough to protect migrants. prevent deaths.

Despite this control, Hungary imposed a hard border with its neighbors Serbia and Croatia two weeks after Alyan’s photo was taken, with the aim of increasing border security and preventing irregular migrants from entering.