The day after another deadly shipwreck of migrants in the English Channel, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday 16 September to discuss the fight against illegal immigration, a subject that has sparked violent riots in the United Kingdom.
“You have made remarkable progress, working as equals with countries along the migratory routes to address the drivers of migration at source and to counter the networks, and the result is that illegal arrivals by sea in Italy have fallen by 60% since 2022,” said the British leader during a press conference with Giorgia Meloni.
According to the British press, Keir Starmer, who rejected the plan of the previous British Conservative government to deport migrants to Rwanda, is “interested” in Giorgia Meloni’s method. In November 2023, she signed a controversial agreement with Tirana, with the creation of two centers for migrants in Albania.
An elite command tasked with securing the borders
Hours before the meeting, the British government announced the creation of an elite command tasked with securing the country’s borders, one of Keir Starmer’s campaign promises.
Elected in July, he pledged to fight illegal immigration, particularly the arrival of migrants on small boats across the Channel.
Around the same time, the UK was hit by anti-immigration violence. The riots, the largest in Britain since 2011, targeted mosques and migrant shelters across the country.
In the Channel, the crossings continue and the tragedies follow one another: on the night of Saturday to Sunday, eight migrants died in the sinking of their makeshift boat off the French coast. In total, 46 people have died in this way since the beginning of the year. Around 800 people crossed the Channel on Saturday, the second highest figure since the beginning of the year, according to the British Home Office.
Decrease in arrivals in Italy
The agreement signed between Rome and Tirana provides for the opening of a centre in the port of Shengjin (northern Albania), used for the registration of asylum seekers, and another in the same region, where they will be housed while awaiting a response to their application.
These two centres – financed and managed by Italy, on the territory of a country that is not part of the European Union (EU) but aspires to be – will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 migrants arriving in Italy by sea.
Migrants whose asylum applications are rejected will be sent back to their countries of origin, while those whose applications are accepted will be admitted to Italy. This is a notable difference from London’s previous plan, under which those applicants sent to Rwanda would not have been able to receive asylum in the United Kingdom. “We are still at the beginning, but I am interested in how it works, as I think everyone is,” Keir Starmer said, according to comments reported in the British press.
Giorgia Meloni “and I have already discussed how we can improve joint operations, so that is something we will address,” he added. The first of these migrant centres in Albania was due to open in early August but has been delayed.
At the same time, Giorgia Meloni’s Italy has signed agreements with Tunisia, providing financial aid in return for increased efforts to reduce migrant departures. According to figures from the Italian Interior Ministry, migrant arrivals by sea have fallen considerably since the beginning of the year: 44,675 between January 1 and September 13, compared to 125,806 in the same period in 2023.