Immigration has long been a flashpoint in Italian politics – and the arrival of more than 1,200 migrants on Lampedusa within a 24-hour period has once again put pressure on the island's reception centers.

Lampedusa sits off the coast of Tunisia, closer to northern Africa than the Italian mainland. Its position makes it a common target for human trafficking groups sending small boats across the Mediterranean Sea.

Around 230 migrants are set to be transferred to Sicily by ferry, which should ease crowding in the island's reception centers. In previous years, the numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean has spiked during the autumn as people try to make the journey before more challenging conditions in the winter.

It's more evidence that despite the hard talk, Giorgia Meloni's government has struggled to slow migrant arrivals. Reducing the numbers was a key pledge in Meloni's election-winning manifesto, 13 months ago.

But so far this year almost 150,000 people have arrived on Italian soil by boat – a significant increase on the same period in 2022, when just over 90,000 migrants had arrived by sea.

'A European challenge'

This year Meloni has also been pushing hard for the rest of the European Union to take on a greater share of the burden of migrant arrivals on the bloc's Mediterranean frontier.

In September, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen visited Lampedusa alongside Meloni.

The Italian Prime Minister described the trip as not "a solidarity gesture of Europe towards Italy but rather a responsibility of Europe towards itself because these are the borders of Italy, for sure, but these are equally the borders of Europe."

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"Migration is a European challenge that requires a European answer and solution," added von der Leyen at a joint press conference on the island. "It is concrete actions that will bring change on the ground. It is only through solidarity and unity that we can achieve this."

The two leaders also announced a new 10-point plan, including providing more resources from the EU's border agency, Frontex. A much-trumpeted deal between the EU and Tunisia, which was partly brokered by Meloni, collapsed earlier this year when Tunis returned $65 million to Brussels.

The Tunisian government had accepted the funds in exchange for pledging to crack down on human trafficking groups operating along its coast. However, Tunis accused Brussels of not sending additional money that had been pledged as part of the deal.

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