At a recent session of the Chamber of Deputies, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi reported that the figure marked the fifth consecutive month of significant decline compared to the same period last year, according to SchengenVisaInfo.com.
“Since taking office, our government’s primary objective has been to fight the shameful trafficking of migrants, starting from the adoption of a series of legislative measures, which are all inspired by the need to establish a firmer respect for migration rules.”
Piantedosi emphasised further international partnership to strengthen co-operation with countries of origin and transit, especially Libya and Tunisia, to enhance their capacity to combat irregular migration both by land and across the seas.
However, despite the adoption of various measures and regulations by the Italian government to discourage immigration, the number of immigrants arriving in the country increased by 50 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022.
The total number of migrants reached 156,000, of which 17,000 were unaccompanied minors.
Only by blocking the departures that are operated by human traffickers we can avoid the tragedy of shipwrecks.
Data provided by the Italian Ministry of the Interior on 29 December 2023 revealed that 155,754 people arrived in the country, which was significantly more than 103,846 people registered in 2022.
As a result, August became the month with the highest number of arrivals, totalling 25,673. In addition, over 1,000 people arrived on Italy’s shores in the first days of 2024 through irregular migration channels.
Data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also indicated that in 2022, the number of first asylum seekers in Italy increased by 71 per cent to about 77,000. Among the applicants, the majority came from Bangladesh (15,000), Pakistan (11,000) and Egypt (8,000).
After a significant increase in 2022, Italy’s annual quota for national workers from third countries increased again in 2023, indicating a continuing labour shortage. The quota for 2023, announced in mid-2022 and officially published in January 2023, was set at 82,705 workers, up from 69,700 in 2022.
