MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Countries of the European Union need to combine efforts to tackle the problem of excessive illegal immigration from North Africa to Italy, mayor of the Italian coastal city of Catania Enzo Bianco told the German Bild newspaper.
Italy alone will not be able to deal with the grave problem, Bianco stressed, proposing that the European Union set up a unified border control service that would monitor the situation in the Mediterranean Sea, where hundreds of migrants are rescued by Italy every month.
On Wednesday, Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano announced that over 70,000 undocumented migrants currently reside in immigration detention facilities across the country.
According to Alfano, over 20 percent of illegal immigrants are housed by detention centers in Sicily, which is where Catania is located.
Italy faces serious problems with undocumented immigration. Its Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, located just 70 miles from Tunisia, is a popular stop for migrants from North Africa who are aiming to reach Europe. Hundreds of people are rescued by the Italian Navy every month in the Mediterranean between Sicily and the coasts of Libya and Tunisia.
In 2014, Europe launched a joint operation "Triton" to protect EU maritime borders. However, the operation was declared ineffective by various international experts, including the UN Refugee Agency.
