STORY: Meloni boasts 60 pct decrease in illegal refugee arrivals in Italy
SHOOTING TIME: June 5, 2024
DATELINE: June 5, 2024
LENGTH: 00:00:37
LOCATION: Rome
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of migrants in Rome

STORYLINE:

Migrant arrivals in Italy are down by 60 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2023, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday.
   
This trend was due to Italy's deals with North African states, the prime minister told her cabinet of ministers.
   
Figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appear to support Meloni's claim, showing that just over 21,000 would-be asylum seekers landed in Italy over the first five months of the year. This is compared to nearly 50,400 over the same period a year earlier, representing a decrease of 58.3 percent.
   
Meloni said the decrease was due to diplomatic deals between Italy and Tunisia and Libya, the two main points of departure for refugees seeking asylum in Italy. According to news reports, the Italian government is working on a similar cooperation deal with Egypt.
   
Meloni has also signed a controversial agreement to process new migrant arrivals in Albania.
   
The Italian prime minister's announcement about the fall in refugee arrival numbers came as her political party, the Brothers of Italy, and other parties are campaigning in local elections for the European Parliament. Voting is set to take place from June 6 to 9, and the issue of migration is expected to be one of the hot issues of the campaign.
   
In 2022, Meloni campaigned on a vow to reduce the number of migrant arrivals in Italy, but the number surged last year, with UNHCR figures showing there were nearly 158,000 arrivals to the country in 2023.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Rome.
(XHTV)