Head of government of Italy abroad
Countries of origin of rescue ships must accept migrants, demands Meloni
From: September 29, 2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, speaks during a press conference
Source: dpa/Rene Rossignaud
The head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, demands that the countries of origin of rescue ships are responsible for welcoming rescued migrants. Italy’s demand follows a German amendment to European asylum reform.
From the point of view of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the countries of origin of the rescue ships in the Mediterranean should welcome the rescued people – and therefore, often, Germany. Meloni called for this on Friday in Malta, where representatives from nine European states bordering the Mediterranean met and called for a “sustainable and holistic European response” to combat illegal migration. Rome has repeatedly criticized Berlin recently due to different views on refugee policy.
The country should be responsible for accepting migrants on the ship of a non-governmental organization under whose flag the rescue organization’s ship sails, Meloni said in Malta. Italy’s demand follows a German amendment to a European asylum reform, which Rome sees as a “setback”.
Interior ministers from EU member states discussed the approach to refugee policy and irregular migration to the EU behind closed doors in Brussels on Thursday. Germany paved the way for so-called crisis regulation, which is considered the final building block of European asylum reform.
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The crisis regulation foresees significantly stricter measures if a particularly large number of migrants threatens to overwhelm the asylum system. The EU wants to learn lessons from the refugee movements in 2015.
However, Italy later announced new reservations due to concessions to Berlin. However, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said a deal was expected. According to Italian media reports, interior ministers rejected the Italian amendment.
Rome accuses Berlin of financing several non-governmental maritime rescue organizations in the Mediterranean, some of which operate under the German flag. Meloni recently complained to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) about German funds for organizations providing aid to refugees in his country.
Meloni said he “definitely sees the desire” to move forward together
A ship from the German organization Sea-Watch was anchored in the port of the island of Lampedusa, according to a report made today by the AFP news agency on websites that monitor ship traffic. Five other ships were on rescue missions off the coast of Libya and Tunisia.
At their meeting in Malta, representatives from nine European Mediterranean states called for a “sustainable and holistic European response” to combat illegal migration in a joint statement. In addition to Meloni, the heads of state of Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia and the host country Malta also participated, as well as a representative from Spain.
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Italian Prime Minister Meloni said she “definitely sees the will” to move forward together. “These beautiful ideas” must be translated “into concrete actions as quickly as possible”. Policies to accelerate the deportation of illegal immigrants must be “managed at European level to be truly effective”.
Meloni also spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the meeting. According to the French delegation, the focus was on implementing von der Leyen’s ten-point plan to support Italy, which was presented in the middle of the month.
The country has seen a significant increase in refugee arrivals. According to the government in Rome, more than 133,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, almost double the same period last year. Thousands of them were trapped on the already overcrowded Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. After bad weather conditions prevented crossing the North African coast to Lampedusa in recent days, a boat carrying refugees arrived again on the Italian Mediterranean island on Friday.
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According to the UN, more than 2,500 migrants have died in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year. Between January 1 and September 24, 2023, a total of 186,000 migrants arrived in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta.