ROME - More than 500 illegal immigrants arrived on Italian shores Sunday as opposition lawmakers attacked Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition government for failing to tackle the problem. Some 253 illegally entered the country on Sunday morning by arriving on the southern island of Lampedusa, with a further 300 arrving on the neighbouring island of Linosa later in the day."The government's strategy on illegal immigration has been a miserable failure," said Marco Minniti, a senior figure inside the Democratic Party. "This year, we have already seen more than double the amount of (illegal immigrants) compared to last year," he added.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on Libya Saturday to do more to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from its shores. He explained that an agreement between Italy and Libya to cooperate further on tackling illegal immigration could not yet be put into action as it had not yet been ratified by the Italian parliament.
But Ivano Strizzolo, a Democratic Party deputy, said the deal, struck in August, had proved "totally ineffective".
Even politicians belonging to Berlusconi's ruling coalition criticised the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants. "The arrival of these poor people in Lampedusa has been orchestrated by one person... Colonel Kadhafi, former financier of international terrorism," said Mario Borghezio, a European deputy with the populist Northern League.
Immigrant arrivals by sea to Italy have greatly increased this year, surpassing 24,000 from January to mid-September, compared to a little more than 14,000 over the same period in 2007, according to Italy's interior ministry.