French, Italian foreign ministers to discuss migration crisis

ROME

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will meet his French counterpart Catherine Colonna on Monday night to discuss the migration crisis, as the country intensifies contacts with its European peers on the matter.

“As President Macron acknowledged, there is a duty of European solidarity on the migration emergency, because the emergency our country is facing is a European emergency, not only Italian,” Tajani said in a statement.

“For this reason, we are intensifying talks with our European partners.”

Italy is working hard to get European support to handle the flow of seaborne migrants reaching the southern country, especially from Tunisia. Thousands of them arrived directly on the tiny Mediterranean island of Lampedusa swarming its reception and care centers and triggering protests by residents.

On Sept. 17, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited the island along with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, pledging the European Union’s support to Italy.

If the current trend continues at the pace seen so far this year, arrivals in Italy could overtake the 160,000 record seen in 2016.

Tajani and Colonna will also discuss road and train transalpine connections between the two countries and the main international crises such as the Ukrainian war and those in Sub-Saharan Africa.

They will also discuss the enlargement process of the EU and the reform of European economic governance.