Berlusconi says he will tell Tunisia’s leaders during Monday’s visit that they need to do more to prevent desperate, jobless Tunisians from embarking on the Mediterranean journey to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Some 23,000 illegal migrants, most of them Tunisians, have reached Italy’s shores since mid-January when Tunisia’s longtime dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was ousted in a popular uprising.

Under Ben Ali, smugglers ferrying migrants to Italy faced harsh punishment, but the interim government replacing him has largely looked the other way.