The Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni had a meeting today at Rome with the Prime Minister of Malta Robert Abella. Then, in her statements to the press, the head of the Italian government, among others, emphasized:

“Without the protection of its external borders EU, it is much more difficult to discuss secondary flows. The challenge is to work together on primary flows to solve the difficult issue of secondary flows as well. With Abela we worked to change the approach that the European Commission adopted in the past years. We agree that working with African countries to offer alternatives to illegal immigration is essential.”

Georgia Meloni also added that she “informed her Maltese counterpart about her recent trip to Tunisia, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte” and that “he considers that the joint statement with President Sayed was a particularly important result, which will now help to be able to reach an agreement between Tunisia and European Union».

On his part, Mr Robert Abella he said: “traffickers are taking advantage of the desperation of so many people and this is not a challenge for Italy and Malta, but for the whole of Europe. We have often emphasized that migration needs a comprehensive, European approach, which was included in the conclusions of several Summits. We believe that there should be solidarity from all member countries. We, of course, do not want to avoid our obligations, for example the procedures to be observed by the member countries whose borders are also external borders of the Union. We believe that the closer cooperation with the countries of transit of immigrants, finally, will be for the general benefit of all”.