Analysis-Italy’s Meloni faces reality check as migrant flows rise relentlessly

FILE PHOTO: Migrants wait to be rescued by Italian Coast Guard off the coast of Italy, April 10, 2023. Italian Coast Guard/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

ROME (Reuters) - Just as King Canute failed to hold back the seas, so Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has floundered in her efforts to stop the flow of migrants to Italy since she took office last October.

Despite pledges before last year's national election that she would cut immigration, the number of people crossing the Mediterranean in a flotilla of often decrepit old boats has doubled over the past nine months.