Rishi Sunak plans to make a deal with Italy to stop the flow of Mediterranean migrants

Rescuing migrants off the coast of Sicily. More and more people are crossing the Mediterranean. Photo: AFP

Rishi Sunak is developing a new joint deal with Italy to stop the flow of migrants through the Mediterranean and return them to North Africa.

The Prime Minister dispatched Simon Case, the UK's most senior civil servant, traveled to Italy in mid-June for two days of meetings with senior Italian government officials to discuss a deal.

A new 'strategic migration partnership' between the UK and Italy will reflect aspects of the agreement with France by intensifying the exchange of intelligence on human smugglers, joint operations and the work of the border troops of the two countries and national agencies to combat crime.

The UK is also backing Italy's efforts to strike an Albanian-style return deal with Tunisia, the main source of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, in addition to an £860m EU-backed aid package to help the North African country stem the flood of arrivals.

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Ministers fear that this may happen. are fueling the summer channel crossing surge as many travel north. The number of small boat crossings is 10% less than in 2022, but this year the number of arrivals exceeded 11,000.

Some MPs believe that the decision of the Court of Appeal on Thursday to block deportation flights to Rwanda may encourage smugglers to lure more migrants to cross the border, believing that their chances of being detained and deported have decreased.

A government source said that: «If we are going to be successful in combating illegal migration, we must address the problem at its source and also focus on small courts.»

This year, more than 62,000 migrants have reached Italy, crossing the Mediterranean. Photo: Shutterstock

The deal follows a meeting between Mr. Sunak and Giorgia Meloni, leader of Italy's right, at No. 10 in April, in which they agreed that both countries need to prioritize cooperation against illegal migration in the form of a new «strategic migration partnership.» /p>

Robert Jenrick, Minister of Immigration, continued negotiations with Italian ministers as part of a five-day tour of North Africa and Europe in early June. to Italy.

Mr. Case, Cabinet Secretary, spent two days in Italy on June 15 and 16, meeting with Alfredo Mantovano, his counterpart in Ms. Meloni's government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other senior officials involved in migration issues. .

< p>A Whitehall source said: “The cabinet secretary was in Rome for a meeting with senior Italian officials and ministers to discuss how we can cooperate more closely in the fight against illegal migration. This is a key priority for the Prime Minister and the British people, so it is only right that we work hand in hand with our international partners.”

Ms Meloni is trying to introduce immigration measures similar to Britain's. including detention and repatriation centers for faster deportation of irregular migrants, suspension of certain asylum rights, and safe and legal routes for recognized refugees.

2,605 border crossings

She is also one of eight European leaders urging the EU to follow the UK's lead and make Rwandan-style deals to cut illegal migration to the bloc. She was recently instrumental in revising EU migration rules to give states more leeway to deport denied asylum seekers.

On Friday, she said she considered Italy's stance on migration and its attempt stop the arrival by forging agreements with countries like Tunisia could become a «model» for the rest of Europe.

The Italian government has made relations with countries of origin such as Tunisia and Libya the basis of its migration policy and wants a similar approach to be adopted by the EU as a whole.

“The relationship we have built with the Meloni government is very close”, — said a source in the UK government. “We share information and ideas. We are looking for opportunities to work together in North Africa, especially in Libya and Tunisia.”

Last week, the first fruits of the collaboration came when the National Crime Agency arrested a 40-year-old Egyptian suspected of organizing, from his home in West London, the smuggling of thousands of people across the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy.

Number of crossings from Libya has shrunk

The Home Office report on the potential impact of the illegal migration bill cites Italy's agreement with Libya as an example of how financial aid has helped the North African state reduce the number of crossings from its coasts from 181,700 to 38,400 a year.

“This example [from 2017] illustrates a package of interventions based on strong bilateral relationships (comparable to work between the UK and France) and clear return or expulsion arrangements (as in the case of Albania and more generally in the Irregular Migration Act ) may be important. significant impact on flows,” the report says.

This comes as ministers prepare to introduce a faster asylum system for less difficult applicants in an attempt to fulfill Mr. Sunak's promise to clear backlogs of «outdated» cases compared to June 2022 by the end of this year and reduce accommodation costs 45 000 of these migrants in £6 million a day hotels.

Employees from other UK Visa Application Centers are being brought in to handle the simplest cases this month, doubling productivity since the beginning of the year. It is understood that shelter staff closed more cases last week than in any week for almost five years.

It follows a new regime introduced by Mr. Jenrick that sets targets for social workers, secures financial incentives to work effectively and reduces most interviews to 45 minutes rather than three hours. “We are now on track to close the legacy gap this year as promised. This means more returns and more hotel migrants,” the source said.

On Friday, Mr. Sunak refused to guarantee that the first flight to Rwanda would depart by the end of the year following an appeals court ruling. . He said it was «a matter for the courts.» However, he insisted that he had «total confidence» in Rwanda's policy as ministers seek to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Warning from Johnson

On Friday, Boris Johnson warned that there might be no deportation flights to Rwanda until 2025 unless the law is changed to give them the green light.

“Now there is a good chance that delays due to the law will be so severe that no illegal immigrants will be sent to Rwanda this year and possibly even next year. It would be unbearable and it is time for Parliament to cut the Gordian knot,” he wrote in his Daily Mail column.

He said that under the Asylum and Immigration Act, the government has the right to ask parliament to declare Rwanda a safe country, contrary to a ruling by the Court of Appeal that declared it «unsafe.»

«Of course, there will be a number. The House of Lords can be tricky, but we've been here before. It is time for the government to regulate the legal position. The time has come — with a large majority remaining — for Parliament to determine that Rwanda is safe, arrest vicious traffickers, stop boats, bring back the spirit of 2019 and end Rwanda,» he said.

However, he ruled out a way out from the European Convention on Human Rights as it «will take time, cause controversy and will not solve» the problem caused by the regulation, which was not directly related to the convention.

A No 10 source said that the unilateral declaration of Rwanda as safe would make no difference in terms of international law.

Natalie Elphick, Tory MP for Dover, warned that «there must be a risk of more boat crossings» as people smugglers could try to take advantage of the Appeal decision court.