To the accompaniment of cries of “Shame On You” and “Assassins”, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso yesterday morning visited the Sicilian “boat people” island of Lampedusa, where more than 300 people drowned last week.
As the Lampedusa fishermen sounded their ship’s horns in protest, a group of islanders gathered outside the island’s small airport to shout abuse at both men as they arrived.
The islanders were doubly annoyed. Firstly, they believe that they have been left to their own devices to deal with the huge, consistent humanitarian crisis represented by the regular influx of political refugees from war-torn Africa.
Secondly, they were outraged yesterday by reports that Messers Barroso and Letta would not be visiting the refugee reception centre to see for themselves the unhealthy, overcrowded conditions in which the migrants live.
In the end, the Mayor of Lampedusa, Giusy Nicolini, persuaded the visitors to make a short stop at the centre. Here the two men saw that, with over 800 people – Somalis, Eritreans and Syrians – jammed into a centre intended for 250, the conditions are indeed dire.
Many of the men sleep outside with a just a rain soaked sponge mattress for a bed whilst one section of the centre has become an open sewer, since there are not enough toilets.
Both men and the EC Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malström, who accompanied them, all expressed their sense of shock at the scenes they had witnessed.
When he walked into the airport hangar where nearly 300 coffins lie side by side, Prime Minister Letta fell to his knees and prayed.
“I am very glad that I came here today,” said Mr Barroso. “I am profoundly shocked and deeply saddened. I will never forget the sight of hundreds of coffins, in particular the small white ones of the children.”
Shock and horror
Later, the visitors met with some of the survivors of last week's tragedy. Mr Barroso said he had seen, not just shock and horror in their eyes, but also their hopes for a better life.
In that context, he said that the EU would make an extra €30 million available to Italy, to help deal with this most recent tragedy. For his part, prime minister Letta said that Italy would be allocating a further €190 million to the state “immigration fund”.
Both men said that the issue of clandestine immigration, especially political refugee immigration from Africa, must become a major EU priority.
Mr Letta said the vast majority of the 30,000 migrants who had landed on Italian coasts this year were political rather than economic refugees, adding that President Barroso had agreed to put the immigration issue high on the agenda for the next EU summit, on October 24th and 25th.