Italy to stress immigration problem by holding G8 meeting on islet
Lampedusa, Italy - Italy's interior minister said Friday that a meeting with his Group of Eight (G8) counterparts will be held in May on Lampedusa, the Mediterranean islet where thousands of would-be immigrants arrive each year.
"We want the other ministers to understand what it is like living with the phenomenon of illegal immigration," Minister Roberto Maroni said during a visit to Lampedusa.
The islet, situated 205 kilometres south of Sicily and 113 kilometres from Tunisia, recently experienced a wave of immigrant arrivals that have stretched the capacity of its reception centre. Most of the migrants are Africans believed to have sailed from Libya.
In 2008, over 35,000 immigrants reached Italy by sea, with some 31,000 landing on the Lampedusa.
Italy holds the current presidency of the G8 industrialized nations, which also includes the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Russia. The forum's main summit is scheduled to held on another Italian island, La Maddalena in July.
Also on Friday, Maroni, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League party, a key ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition, said the European Union (EU) has been "too weak" in dealing with illegal immigration.
He said he would meet next Tuesday to discuss the problem with counterparts from Malta, Greece and Cyprus, fellow- Mediterranean- based EU member states and seek a "common front" to curb the illegal sea journeys. (dpa)