After the migrant boat disaster off Calabria in which scores of people died on Sunday, February 26, Italian leaders expressed pain at the loss of life, starting with President Sergio Mattarella, who urged the international community and Europe to adequately manage the arrival of people fleeing their countries.

Europe must 'take responsibility', Mattarella

In a statement, the president called for a "strong commitment from the international community to remove the fundamental causes of migrant flows: wars, persecution, terrorism and territories made inhospitable by climate change."

"It is equally important," he added, "that the EU finally assumes concrete responsibility for governing the phenomenon of migrants to take them away from human traffickers by direct efforts in migratory policy."

"Many of these migrants came from Afghanistan and from Iran" and were fleeing "conditions of great difficulty," Mattarella also noted. "It is the umpteenth tragedy of the Mediterranean that cannot leave anyone indifferent."

Mattarella also called for adequate hosting conditions for asylum seekers.

'Committed to preventing departures', Meloni

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni expressed "profound pain at the many human lives taken by human traffickers," speaking on behalf of the government. But she also attacked those who "speculate with these deaths, having glorified the illusion of unregulated immigration" and said her government was committed to "impeding the departure" of migrant boats in order to avoid such "tragedies" and will continue to do so, "first of all by demanding the strongest collaboration of the countries of departure and origin."

"It is criminal to put at sea a boat of just 20 metres with 200 people on board in adverse weather conditions," Meloni continued, adding that it is also "inhuman to exchange the lives of men, women and children for the price of a 'ticket' they paid in the false hope of a safe trip."

Meloni's government is trying to discourage search and rescue ships run by NGOs in the Mediterranean, saying they encourage migrant boats to attempt hazardous sea crossings, and has passed a decree regulating their activities.

Deputy premier and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini pointed the finger at migrant smugglers who use increasingly unsafe boats, stressing the need to put pressure on the countries of origin of migrant "trafficking".

Meanwhile Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that nobody was at war with NGOs running migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean, but issued a warning: "We have set rules, it's best if they (NGOs) rescue, but if they make arrangements with 'scafisti'…." (human smugglers skippering migrant boats), he noted, stopping mid-sentence as if to shut down allegations that authorities were slow to rescue the vessel on Sunday. Tajani stressed that "the great majority of migrants are rescued by coast guards and finance police."

The foreign minister went on to say that the latest shipwreck off Calabria "must lead to agreements with countries of departure made by the entire EU." Moreover, "aid must be increased, knowing that the money should not be given to dictators or people who use it for objectives that are unconnected to growth. "It is necessary to forge agreements to halt departures, and this doesn't only mean controlling the maritime borders of these countries."

The foreign minister added that he hopes Europe will understand that "this is not an Italian whim."