Keir Starmer meets Meloni in Rome to discuss migration solutions – Firstpost

A day earlier, another shipwreck carrying migrants in the English Channel claimed eight lives, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday to discuss combating illegal immigration.

Starmer, whose centre-left Labour party was overwhelmingly elected to parliament in July, has vowed to tackle illegal immigration, which has been a sensitive issue in British politics for years.

“There has been a pretty dramatic drop (in the number of migrants arriving), so I want to understand how that happened,” Starmer said before his meeting with Meloni in Rome.

He spoke to Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi during a tour of a national immigration coordination center.

Starmer was welcomed at a welcoming ceremony at the Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome at 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT) before his meeting with Meloni.

Shortly after Starmer's election, far-right riots broke out across England and Northern Ireland. They were the worst riots in the UK since 2011. Mosques and migrant accommodation were often attacked.

The dangerous journey of migrants from northern France across the English Channel has become a devilishly difficult problem for successive British prime ministers.

Eight migrants died on Sunday when their overcrowded boat capsized in the Channel between France and England, bringing the number of people who have lost their lives trying to reach British shores this year to 46.

According to the British Home Office, around 800 people crossed the Channel on Saturday, the second highest number since the beginning of the year.

Starmer has rejected the previous Conservative government's plan to deport all undocumented migrants to Rwanda while their asylum claims are being examined.

Instead, the British media say he is interested in the strategy of Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, whose country is at the forefront of illegal immigration into the European Union.

Italy signed an agreement with Albania in November to open two centers in the Balkan state to house undocumented migrants while their asylum applications are processed.

Italy will finance and manage the centres, which will accommodate up to 3,000 migrants arriving by boat on the Italian coast.

Migrants whose asylum applications were rejected would be sent back to their countries of origin, while those whose applications were approved would be allowed to enter Italy.

This represents a significant difference from the previous British government's Rwanda programme, under which migrants sent to the East African country would never have been allowed to settle in the UK, regardless of the outcome of their application.

– Fewer arriving migrants –
During a tour of the Migrant Coordination Centre, Starmer said it appeared that the lower number of migrants arriving in Italy was due to “the work that has been done in some of the countries of origin”.

“Incidentally, I have long been convinced that prevention and preventing travel is one of the best ways to address this particular problem,” he added.

Starmer's trip to Italy has already drawn criticism, even within his own party.

Labour MP Kim Johnson told the British newspaper The Guardian that it was “worrying that Starmer is trying to learn lessons from a neo-fascist government, especially after the refugee unrest and far-right racist terrorism that has swept Britain this summer”.

The newly appointed head of the new British Border Force, Martin Hewitt, accompanied Starmer during his trip, his office said.

In addition to Albania, Meloni's government has also signed an agreement with Tunisia: in return, it will grant Tunisia greater efforts to stop migrants who leave the North African country and cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy.

Italy has also renewed a controversial 2017 agreement with the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli. It provides for Rome to train and financially support the Libyan coast guard to curb the departure of migrants or to send back to Libya those already at sea.

Human rights groups say this policy is pushing thousands of migrants back to Libya, where they face arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment.

Since the beginning of the year, the number of migrants arriving in Italy by sea has fallen significantly, the Interior Ministry said.

Between January 1 and September 13, 44,675 people arrived in Italy, compared to 125,806 in the same period in 2023.

According to the border protection agency Frontex, the number of migrants crossing the border at all EU borders has now fallen by 39 percent.

However, according to experts, several factors can be attributed to this development: for example, many migrants who wanted to enter the EU have changed their route.

While migration flows along the Balkan and Central Mediterranean routes declined significantly this year – by 77 percent and 64 percent respectively – the West African and Eastern land border routes saw a sharp increase of 123 percent and 193 percent respectively.

According to Frontex, the number of border crossings across the English Channel has increased by 13 percent this year.