Sunak plans deal with Italy on Mediterranean migrants
London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is planning a deal with Italy to stem the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean and return them to North Africa, the Telegraph reported.
Sunak had sent cabinet secretary and Head of the Civil Service Simon Case to Italy in mid-June for two days of meetings with top Italian government officials to work on a deal, the newspaper reported.
A government source familiar with the matter confirmed that Case was in Italy, without providing any additional details.
“If we are going to be successful in tackling illegal migration we have got to deal with the issue at source as well as focus on small boats,” the Telegraph quoted a government source as saying.
The UK and Italy signed a memorandum of understanding in April to tackle illegal migration under “Strategic Migration Partnership.”
“We are cooperating closely with Italy and other European partners to stem illegal migration and tackle people-smuggling gangs which operate cross-border,” a UK government spokesperson said. “This is a shared challenge.”
Britain had a record 45,000 people coming to the country in small boats across the Channel last year, mainly from France, according to government figures. More than 11,000 have arrived so far this year, according to the government.
Sunak of the Conservative Party has made stopping boat arrivals one of his top five priorities.
He has been criticized by some members of his own party and the public for not moving quickly enough to crack down on irregular migration.
In another development, a European official said the EU’s border agency is seeking “clarifications and information” from Greece’s coast guard on two alleged cases of migrants who crossed by boat being illegally deported back to Turkiye. The official said Frontex’s executive director Hans Leijtens wrote to a senior police official representing Greece on the Frontex management board, requesting a reply by July 10.
The agency helps patrol EU member Greece’s eastern borders.
Greece’s center-right government has in recent years stepped up patrols in the eastern Aegean Sea, radically reducing the numbers of migrants from the Middle East and Africa crossing in small boats from neighboring Turkiye.
But Athens has been repeatedly accused of dumping migrants who enter Greek waters back inside Turkiye’s maritime jurisdiction without allowing them to apply for asylum — an illegal practice known as “pushbacks.” There have been similar claims on Greece’s treatment of migrants crossing the land border with Turkiye. Greece denies the accusations, saying its migration policy is “strict but fair.”
Separately, Greece’s coast guard has been strongly criticized for its handling of the June 14 sinking of a trawler carrying hundreds of migrants from Libya to Italy, which left more than 500 people feared dead.
The letter dated Thursday referred to two alleged incidents on April 11 and 22 off the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos — a major destination for migrants crossing from the nearby Turkish coast in small boats.
The first was reported by The New York Times, based on a video provided by an activist. It claimed Greek authorities illegally deported a group of migrants who had reached Lesbos, leaving them on a raft at sea for Turkish authorities to pick up.
In the second, it was alleged that a Portuguese Frontex boat helping patrol the region stopped a boat carrying migrants and handed it over to the Greek coast guard, which forced it back into Turkish waters.
Leijtens’ letter said Frontex has launched a “Serious Incident Report” into the April 11 case, which “confirms the gravity of the allegations.” “I am aware that there might be investigations in progress with regard to the events mentioned above,” it said. “However, I would like to emphasize that it is of paramount importance for (Frontex) to receive all clarifications and information that are at this moment at the disposal of the (Greek) Coast Guard in view of current and future cooperation” between Greek authorities and Frontex.
