Italy’s hardline new interior minister Matteo Salvini flew to Sicily yesterday to inspect a refugee reception centre and prepare to deliver on his campaign promise of a mass expulsion of illegal migrants.
His trip came as Frontex, Europe’s border agency, said that it was ready to deploy more forces to deal with migrants arriving in northern Greece via a new land route. In April alone 2,900 people crossed the Evros river from Turkey, exceeding the 2,441 who used rubber rafts to cross the Aegean.
Italy lacked homes and jobs for Italians, “let alone for half the African continent”, Mr Salvini, the leader of the right-wing League, said during a stopover in Catania to support the centre right’s candidate for mayor in next Sunday’s local elections.