ROME — U.Okay. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak likened Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Margaret Thatcher as he referred to as on European leaders to channel the outdated Conservative British chief’s “radicalism” and problem decades-old guidelines round refugees.
“Thatcher understood that concepts are solely essential if they are often applied,” Sunak mentioned in a speech on the governing Brothers of Italy social gathering’s right-wing Atreju competition in Rome. “She by no means backed down even when the combat was exhausting, and as we speak we’ve to use Thatcher’s radicalism to unlawful immigration.”
Each leaders have put migration entrance and heart since they took workplace in November 2022. Final month, Meloni brokered a deal to course of asylum purposes in neighboring Albania; and earlier this week the U.Okay. received parliamentary acceptance for its contentious plan to deport sure migrants to Rwanda.
“If we don’t deal with this drawback, the numbers will solely develop,” Sunak mentioned in a brief speech on Saturday. “It’ll overwhelm our international locations and our capability to assist those that really need our assist probably the most. If that requires us to replace our legal guidelines and lead a world dialog to amend the post-war frameworks round asylum, then we should try this.”
Behind the scenes, Sunak and Meloni additionally agreed on the necessity to deepen cooperation to be able to “deal with unlawful immigration to Europe in an more and more structured method” and in addition work collectively on repatriating migrants, in line with a press release from Downing Road circulated similtaneously Sunak’s speech.
Meloni will profit politically from Sunak’s patronage of the Atreju competition, an annual occasion based in 1998 by the precursor of the far-right Brothers of Italy social gathering which has since change into a mainstream political convention beneath the management of Meloni.
The 2 leaders have change into politically shut, with Sunak hailing his “sturdy friendship” with the Italian chief, noting that she was elected at roughly the identical time as him and is among the solely different “center-right” leaders in Europe. He even embraced his Italian counterpart as he headed offstage.