Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has announced that Italy must "forge an agreement on migratory cooperation with Tunisia" following the "Albanian model" from the late 1990s-early 2000s to control migration flows. The agreement with Albania enabled Italy to stop, seize and sink boats used for crossings.
The Italian Senate has revoked former interior minister Matteo Salvini's immunity, thereby paving the way for another trial over his harsh migrant policy. A conviction might spell the end of the former interior minister's political career.
Protesters in Rome took to the streets on Monday, July 27, to call on the Italian government to stop financing the Libyan coast guard and to close detention centers. They also called for a transfer of migrants from Libya through humanitarian corridors.
Tunisian President Kaies Saied and Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese met on July 27 in Tunis to discuss the control of migration flows. Lamorgese expressed strong concern for an increase of arrivals from the North African country during the meeting, interior ministry sources said.
Germany will support a new European effort to stop migrants arriving in Europe. The joint platform will focus mainly on migrants trying to enter via Turkey and Greece.
On Sunday, July 12, Italian newspapers reported that a total of 791 migrants disembarked on Lampedusa and Sicily over the previous 48 hours. The governor of the Sicilian region has called on the federal government to call a state of emergency with hotspots above capacity and a number of migrants testing positive for coronavirus.
A delegation from the Italian interior ministry visited the Ventimiglia area in northwestern Italy near the French border to assess strategies to contain migrant flows in the area. The mayor of the border city called on the government to put an end to the reigning lawlessness of migration in the area.
Oxfam has criticized the new asylum laws in Greece, saying they would result in "exploitation of people" and amount to "a blatant attack" on the EU's commitment to protect refugees and migrants.
A human rights activist and former immigration detainee has warned that Europe is trying to copy Australia’s harsh asylum system. He says asylum seekers held in Australia's offshore processing centers suffer psychological abuse, trauma and racism.
When Germany takes over the rotating EU presidency, it will seek to tackle the long-stalled reform of EU asylum rules. The pressure to act is almost as great as the resistance to reform ideas.
Austria has declared that it supports hardline changes to European asylum laws proposed by Germany. The two countries want migrants stopped at Europe’s external borders and turned away if they do not have a strong claim for asylum.
Italy's government coalition continues to be divided on changes to ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini's migrants-security decrees. Salvini's former government coalition partner, the Five-Star Movement (M5S), wants to postpone the issue to September while its current ruling partner, the Democratic Party (PD), is asking to speed up a reform.