The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Melonireceived his British counterpart in Rome on Monday, Keir Starmerlooking for more collaboration in immigration issuea few weeks before the controversial centres in Albania are due to go into operation.
“We agree that Don’t be afraid to explore new solutions.“We talked about the ‘Italy-Albania Protocol’, to which the UK government is paying great attention and we provided all the elements to understand this innovative mechanism,” Meloni explained at a joint press conference.
Labour’s Starmer nodded alongside him: “We have returned to British pragmatism. When we face a challenge with our allies, we discuss and see if their measures work,” he noted.
The Meloni government has accepted the construction of two centers on Albanian territory identify migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean with the aim of “decongesting” the network of reception institutions in southern Italy.
Although the opening of the centres was scheduled for 1 August, the Prime Minister assured today that “there is still a week left” in which some aspects are “perfected” and insisted that immigrants will benefit from “the same treatment as if they had arrived in the country”. Lampedusa.”
“The jurisdiction will be Italian and European,” he promised.
The Italian executive said in a statement that with this bilateral meeting, the two leaders “intend to strengthen the cooperation in the fight against human traffickingas well as the attention paid to the judicial field” and to “the association with the countries of origin and transit” of immigration.
Starmer travelled to Rome seeking strategies for fight against immigration irregular, a “challenge” for which congratulated Meloni.
“Italy has succeeded notable progress working with countries along the migration route, addressing the root causes of immigration and reduce irregular arrivals. From 2022, they have been reduced by 60% by sea,” the British Prime Minister stressed.
This is why he was counting on his first official trip to Italy with the new head of border security, Martin Hewitt, who visited the Coordination Centre of the Italian authorities.
“The reason you came with me head of border security is to visit the Coordination Centre and see how we can collaborate even more effectively by sharing analysis, data, intelligence and our strategies,” Starmer said.
He also stressed that his government, formed last July, has already repatriated more than 3,000 immigrants to their country by plane.
On another note, Meloni and his British counterpart also discussed major international crises, including the war in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The position of the two on Israel and PalestineStarmer sums up: “An immediate ceasefire is reached in Gaza, all hostages are released, humanitarian aid arrives and tensions in the West Bank are eased.”
Regarding Ukraine, they promised to continue working together in favor of kyiv “as long as necessary”, including by granting it the loan of 50,000 million dollars financed by frozen Russian assets, as agreed at the last G7 summit.
Regarding the possible use by Ukraine of long-range “Western” missiles on Russian territory, both avoided a clear answer, although Meloni recalled that it is important for kyiv to have “the best possible conditions” to negotiate peace.
