Italy’s Salvini on the absent, distant and unresponsive EU in the Lampedusa crisis

“Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, and leader of the League Party in the coalition, states that Europe is absent, distant, and unresponsive to the influx of illegal migrants from Africa.† Therefore, Italy must defend its borders alone. This has become more pressing since a tiny island has received over 6,000 migrants with a reception centre offering only 400 beds.”† The arrivals pose a political challenge for the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who promised to manage immigration but seems to have fallen short.