Germany must explain its financing of NGO rescue ships, which the EU border agency Frontex says are a “pull factor” for irregular immigration, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia wrote in a letter to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Italy’s government is not pleased with how the European Union handles the current migration crisis, which has seen Lampedusa overwhelmed with migrants in recent weeks.
While Italy has already criticised the EU, and particularly France and Germany, for not accepting migrants who arrived irregularly in Italy, Meloni is now calling out Germany for financing NGO ships that operate in the Mediterranean.
In her letter, Meloni asks Scholz for an explanation and rhetorically suggests that the chancellor consider whether the reception of those fleeing Africa “should not be facilitated on German territory rather than in Italy”.
“I have learned with amazement that your government – in an uncoordinated manner with the Italian government – has reportedly decided to support with substantial funds non-governmental organisations engaged in the reception of irregular migrants on Italian territory and in rescues in the Mediterranean Sea,” Meloni old Scholz in the letter, noting that both activities “raise questions”.
Italy is currently coping with exceptional migratory pressures as thousands of migrants have crowded into the first reception centre on the island of Lampedusa, and just as many are being transferred to reception centres scattered around the country, though Italy’s neighbours have closed their borders.
As early as 2022, Frontex described migrant rescue ships controlled by NGOs as further inciting migrant crossings, otherwise known as a “pull factor”, especially from Tunisia and Libya,
For Meloni, EU countries that want to make a concrete commitment to the emergency situation, “including financially”, should focus on “finding structural solutions to the migration phenomenon” by cooperating with transit countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. For example, with agreements that, according to Meloni, would cost less than the EU-Turkey deal.
Similar sentiments about Germany were echoed by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto (Fratelli d’Italia/ECR), who accused Germany of not being friendly to Italy and called for a shift in approach at the EU level about the migration dossier.
“Germany is not a friendly country. It has an ideological approach and puts us in trouble,” Crosetto said in an interview with La Stampa, expressing his regret that “Berlin pays NGOs”.
As for Paris, Crosettos said it “blocks the borders, and no one says anything.” “Europe often makes the wrong strategies”, he added.
“Faced with our request for help, this is their response? We did not behave in the same way when Angela Merkel convinced the EU to invest billions of euros in Turkey to stop migrants coming to Germany from the Middle East”, the minister added.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry, in turn, recalled through a spokesman that the funding of NGOs has long been known and is provided for by a decision of the Bundestag, with the aim of “facilitating civilian rescue at sea as well as land-based projects for rescued people”.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (Forza Italia/EPP) will travel to Berlin to meet his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Thursday, while Meloni and Scholz will meet at the next EU Council meeting on 5-6 October in Granada – an opportunity to “discuss in person” and “better clarify the exact contours of these initiatives of your (Scholz’s) government”, Meloni said in her letter.
(Federica Pascale | Euractiv.it)
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