Italys Cabinet Declares State Of Emergency For Six Months Over Influx Of Migrants

The Italian Council of Ministers on Tuesday declared a nationwide state of emergency for six months "due to the exceptional increase in the flow of migrants arriving in the country on Mediterranean routes," the press office of the Italian government said in a statement.

During a meeting on Tuesday, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said that, since the beginning of 2023, there has been a sharp increase in migration flows in the Apennines. This led to a critical situation in a number of temporary accommodation centers for migrants, especially on the island of Lampedusa. In this situation, it was proposed to take urgent emergency measures in order to normalize the situation in this "hot spot," in which 1,800 refugees were being accommodated while the center was designed to house only some 400 people.

The council decided to declare a nationwide state of emergency at the proposal of Italian Civil Protection and Maritime Policies Minister Sebastiano Musumeci. The Italian government also decided to allocate 5 million Euros ($5.46 million) from the National Emergency Fund while pending an accurate assessment of the real financial needs to solve the migration crisis, the statement said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Italian broadcaster RaiNews24 reported that some 3,000 undocumented migrants have arrived in Italy via the Mediterranean Sea over the past three days.