Feature: Despite Italy's growing migration burden, Milan sticks to open attitude

As Italy's economic capital, and largest city near the borders with other European countries, Milan has always been a major attraction for those looking for a better life.

After drawing hundreds of thousands of Italians from the impoverished southern regions in the past, it now stands at a crucial crossroads of the new century's migration flows.

According to official data, the city hosted 120,800 migrants and refugees from October 2013 to January 2017. The figure includes 21,250 minors.

The municipality set up 13 hosting facilities across the city, including a first reception center behind the central station. At the "Hub" -- as it is called -- all new arrivals are accommodated, registered, and later assigned to other centers according to available places.

Run by Project Arca Foundation, the major facility's official capacity is 70 beds.

But more camp beds are added when needed, which almost always seems to be the case.

"Last night, we had 170 people sleeping here at the Hub," Sabrina Liberalato, the Project Arca supervisor for refugees, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The average number has dropped to about 180 to 200 guests per night in the past weeks, due to the cold and a decrease in the flow of people arriving to southern Italy (after crossing the Mediterranean)."

The Hub looked decent and clean. Migrants and refugees were directed to a registration desk as soon as they arrived in the main hall.

On the desk's left side, some tables with computers were crowded with young men and women. In the recreation zone, people would sit for a chat or a hot drink at a long table. At the end of the hall, a play area for children was set up with the help of Save the Children and Albero della Vita charities.

There was also a small consultation room, where new arrivals would receive a first medical check, and a soup kitchen in an adjacent area providing three meals a day.

At the end of January, Milan's 13 centers hosted 3,634 migrants and refugees overall, close to the 4,000-threshold local authorities look at as the limit beyond which the city's network would be in distress.

Despite this, Milan's current policy was that of remaining "open" despite possible difficulties. "We cannot boast to be an open city only when it suits us," Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said.

"We cannot welcome a bright and wealthy student from Korea to our universities -- just as an example -- but refuse to accept the fact that migrants and refugees are transiting our city."

The mayor stressed that Milan already had a multi-ethnic "soul", with 18 percent of its population of non-European origin, including 70,000 from Muslim-majority countries.

Provided that laws and a common sense of duty were respected, "being an open city is always a benefit," Sala said.

Such an approach acknowledged a basic fact: Italy had remained on the frontline of Europe's migration crisis in 2016, despite a generally declining trend.

Some 362,376 arrivals were registered through all Mediterranean routes -- including Greece, Italy, and Spain -- last year, compared with over one million in 2015, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Of that total, Italy took in 181,283 people, compared with 2015 and 2014 when arrivals were 153,842 and 169,304, respectively, interior ministry data showed.

Such a number in itself would not justify a crisis in a country with 60 million inhabitants, according to the mayor.

"It is not an emergency, in my view. Arrivals here now average 3,700 to 3,800 depending on the day, which is not much more than in the past," Sala said.

Yet, while nine out of 10 migrants and refugees transiting in Milan were able to proceed further north in Europe in recent years, now they would find most of the borders closed.

"Now, it is three out of 10 people who move further...this is the root of the problem."

A domestic factor must be added: only 2,600 out of 8,000 municipalities in Italy accepted to host migrants and refugees in 2016, according to the interior ministry.

A new distribution plan provided by the central government was met with hostility, especially in small centers, and in northern cities run by anti-immigration opposition party Northern League.

"Lombardy region (of which Milan is the capital) should host 14 percent of the national inflows, but because of this attitude in other cities, Milan takes in a higher portion," Sala confirmed.

It remains to be seen what will happen to Milan's openness, in the event migrant flows further increase in 2017. Officials on the ground seemed aware of the risk, but optimistic.

"Much depends on how the issue will be managed at national level, of course," the Project Arca supervisor at the Hub answered.

However, "Milan can count on a well-working cooperation system involving all public institutions and a lot of associations and charities...and this helps a great deal," said Liberalato.

The mayor considered the issue in a wider, medium-term perspective: "What Italy overall lacks is a national plan, and we should look at Germany for that," he said.

"Germany invests a lot in helping refugees learn the language and find a job, but it is then very strict with those who do not do their part," Liberalato noted.

"We should also set up an education and integration plan, asking Europe for financial support, otherwise, it will be a lost battle," he added. Endit