full screen EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Archive image. Photo: Jean-Francois Badias/AP/TT
EU base Ursula von der Leyen will visit the Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday, together with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The announcement from the authorities comes after Italy asked the EU for help after a sharp increase in migrants in recent days.
Before that, interior ministers from Italy, France, Germany and Spain hold a telephone meeting with the EU’s commissioner for home affairs.
Meloni has called on the EU to act to ease the pressure on Italy, after thousands of migrants arrived in Lampedusa in the past three days.
– The migration pressure that Italy has experienced since the beginning of the year is unsustainable, Meloni said in a recorded statement.