Signs of migrant crisis intensifying in Europe, over 7,000 refugees arrive

Rome/Berlin – The issue of refugees infiltrating Europe from African countries has again become a topic of discussion. A total of 7,000 refugees have arrived on Lampedusa Island in Italy within 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday. Also, the administration of Lampedusa Island has declared a state of emergency due to this influx of refugees. Besides, Germany has refused to accept refugees arriving from Italy for some time amid the ongoing influx of refugees into Italy. Sources have indicated that due to this decision of Germany, the differences between the European countries on the issue of refugees have come to the fore again, and Italy may adopt an aggressive stance towards it in the coming days.

The number of refugees infiltrating Italy seems to be increasing significantly in the last few months. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has adopted a strict policy against refugees, and despite this, flocks of refugees are entering Italy from Africa. Additionally, the government has informed that over 125,000 migrants have infiltrated Italy in the first eight months of 2023. At the same time last year, the number of migrants entering Italy was 65,000.

In addition, a total of 180,000 refugees had infiltrated into Italy in 2016. Nonetheless, if we look at the number of refugees entering currently, it is feared that the number of refugees reaching Italy will be more than those in 2016. Moreover, the arrival of migrants in Lampedusa during the last 24 hours has raised a law and order issue in the area. The local administration has also declared a state of emergency. Besides, information about security forces charging batons on a group of refugees entering the island has also come to light.

A few months ago, an agreement was reached with an African country like Tunisia to stop refugees in Africa. After this, in the meeting of the European Union (EU) last month, some proposals had come up to resolve the issue of refugees. These included the recommendation that European countries take the responsibility of refugees together and every country join it. However, it is now clear that other European countries are not accepting migrants entering Italy and Greece.

Flocks of refugees have been entering Italy in the past few months, and Germany has refused to shelter some of these refugees in its country. Besides, Germany’s Ministry of Internal Defence has supported its decision by saying that Italy had also taken a similar decision earlier. Because of this, there is a rage in Italy, and the EU has also expressed displeasure over it. Analysts have claimed that these differences between leading countries like Italy and Germany indicate a lack of unity in Europe regarding refugees. Because of this, analysts also suggest that the European refugee crisis may become more intense.

A few days ago, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, the top member of the EU, had warned that the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe would repeat. In 2022, more than one million refugees were infiltrating European countries. In such a situation, more than 0.6 million refugees have entered Europe until now between January and July.