Migration has become the first hot-button issue for Rome’s new right-wing government, pitting Western Europe’s powerhouses France and Germany against Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose hardline stance on NGO rescue ships is supported by other East Mediterranean reception countries Greece, Malta and Cyprus.
“If Italy wants to be influential, it is better that it does not play the loner against everyone. That is never a good thing in Europe, for any country,” Renew Europe MEP Sandro Gozi, representative of Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva party, now allied with Carlo Calenda’s Azione, told EURACTIV Italy.
“Meloni is conducting an ideological battle for internal use, isolating herself in Europe. The sooner Meloni retraces her steps, the better”, he added.
Rome’s new government, led by Meloni, has been locked in a deadlock over the arrival of migrants off its coast over the last ten days.
A total of four boats with some 1000 migrants arrived along the coast, with Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stating, “they must return outside territorial waters, and the flag state must take charge of them.”
While women, children and those with medical issues were allowed to disembark immediately, the presence of others on board for days led to tensions. The vessels called to immediately disembark them all as some were on hunger strike and others jumped from the boats into the water in desperation.
Italy’s claim that the flag state of each vessel should be responsible for relocating the migrants, rather than Italy or where they arrive, has been bitterly opposed by various legal experts, human rights activists, humanitarian groups, and politicians.
Meanwhile, the political crisis between Italy and France caused by the ships shows no sign of abating. The ship Ocean Viking of the NGO SOS Mediterranée docked in Toulon and disembarked the 234 migrants on board “exceptionally”.
However, France says it will not take any others, stating they should be redistributed among member states, and invites “all other participants” in the European migrant relocation mechanism to do the same, particularly Germany.
“It is clear that there will be extremely serious consequences for our bilateral relations” with Italy, said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who has given orders to tighten border controls with Italy and has already turned back many migrants.
Ocean Viking: The first real diplomatic crisis between France and Italy?
France denounced on Thursday (10 November) Italy’s “incomprehensible and unacceptable” attitude in refusing to welcome the migrants on board the Ocean Viking ship, at sea for more than 15 days, creating the first diplomatic crisis between the new governments of the two countries.
According to Gozi, Italy has created a crisis against the national interest: “We are in a major crisis, and the responsibility lies with Giorgia Meloni, who has made propaganda on the skin of migrants. Italy must do its part.”
Joint East-Mediterranean stance
However, while Gozi places political responsibility on Rome, other reception countries in the Mediterranean back Italy in its defiance.
Malta, Cyprus, and Greece have joined an initiative spearheaded by Piantedosi calling on the EU to intervene in the ongoing migration situation.
In their statement published over the weekend, they repeated their position that they “cannot subscribe to the notion that countries of first entry are the only possible European landing spots for illegal immigrants.”
They also condemned private charity vessels “acting in total autonomy from the competent state authorities” to save migrants stranded at sea after trying to cross to the EU.
However, countries in the Mediterranean have long been under fire for their handling of migrations.
Malta, for example, has been widely criticised for ignoring distress calls, delaying responses, and pushing back migrants to the Libyan Coastguard and since 2020 adopted an unofficial non-communication policy with the media on migrant rescues.
Thousands of migrants try to cross to Europe from Libya’s coastline to reach Europe in flimsy vessels, leading to thousands of deaths. Over 1200 have died in 2022 alone, totalling some 25,000 since 2014.
Malta has been widely criticised for ignoring distress calls, delaying responses, and pushing back migrants to the Libyan Coastguard, where they remain at risk of rape, torture, imprisonment, extortion, and death.
In 2017, the European agency Frontex wrote that “all parties involved in SAR (Search and Rescue) operations in the central Mediterranean unwittingly help criminals to achieve their objectives at minimum cost, to strengthen their business model by increasing the chances of success.”
Italy’s reactions
“Italy has always done its part, we have always respected all agreements, it is the others who have not kept them,” said Foreign Minister and former president of European parliament from Forza Italia Antonio Tajani, calling for a European strategy.
On the French issue, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) politician spoke of a “statement in good faith” by Rome that was interpreted as a provocation by Paris, which reacted with “exaggerated tones” on a matter of internal politics.
In the absence of an EU-level solution, some EU countries agreed in June to the voluntary solidarity mechanism, a proposal in which member states voluntarily help other EU countries which are heavily affected by the migration influx either by relocation or with funding, was implemented.
Additionally, thirteen member states have agreed to provide “relocation pledges” for over 8,000 people, while Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland have offered to contribute financially.
However, progress on relocations is glacial. According to Tajani, “so far 117 have been relocated, of which 36 in France. Italy has always done its part, we have always respected all agreements, it is the others who have not kept them”, he concluded.
Mishandled communication
“If Italy would stop countering every statement made by the French government, the waters might calm down,” Professor Jean Pierre Darnis told EURACTIV Italy, who explains “the Italian government’s communication was mishandled.”
By announcing the arrival of the Ocean Viking in France, according to Darnis, the Italian government has triggered reactions from French parties that led Macron to change his attitude and raise the tone against Rome to calm internal political tensions.
“I think Meloni has sinned in naivety. It would have been better to communicate the political success after the fact, not before,” Darnis said.
“The French government, which has a slim political majority, found itself caught between the left and the right. If the Italian government had said nothing, we would have not reached this point. The politicisation of the issue, on both sides, leads to a cycle of extremely negative tensions,” he stressed.
The G20 summit in Bali will take place from Tuesday to Wednesday, which could be an opportunity for a constructive confrontation between Meloni and Macron, but the Elysée says that a meeting between the two leaders is not on the agenda at the moment.
“In the current context, Italy and France need each other. With a very absent Germany in Europe, there is a great need for a Franco-Italian dialogue and convergence in the context of the Union,” Darnis said.
Source: euractiv.com
