With the new NGO Decree secure port assignment times are reduced. To be clear, it’s not Matteo Salvini or Giorgia Meloni, it’s the Coast Guard.
“Until a few days ago, the NGOs always complained about the times with which the Italian administration, although not obliged to do so, granted the port of discharge or possibly times that were even longer than ten days,” he explained to the Rear Admiral Giuseppe Aulicino, during the hearing of the Transport and Constitutional Affairs Commissions, which are meeting today in the Hemicycle for a joint session. “With this decree, the pos (place of security ed) is assigned immediately,” said the rear admiral clearly. A rather important aspect as it significantly affects life on board “because migrants know that they will be taken to a national port, especially in a short time and certainly less than what happened until recently”. In fact, in recent years, the port authority has had to face both health and safety issues: “If migrants stayed on board for a long time, someone would get angry,” recalls Aulicino.
In short, during his speech, an expert of Coast Guard, not a center-right politician, has debunked many of the “falses” touted by the immigrant left and NGOs. “It doesn’t seem to me that the decree we are discussing explicitly prohibits multiple bailouts. If a ship heading to the POS encounters a unit in need of assistance, the commander should intervene, as is the case with our naval units,” the rear admiral stressed. Second, Aulicino denied that international law explicitly speaks of the nearest port because all the rules apply to commercial merchant ships and in this case “the state where the rescue was carried out must provide a port that allows the ship to vary its course as little as possible.” as possible to leave possible”.
NGOs carry out activities of a different nature and therefore have to comply with Italian law. A point that was also reinforced in the written report submitted to the Chamber’s Transport Committee. After enumerating a number of international regulations, it concludes: “Italy is therefore not required under international maritime law to consider the pos requests from foreign-flagged merchant vessels or NGOs permanently conducting rescue operations outside the Italian SAR area and, in the absence of a Coordination by Italy”. Then it essentially reiterates that the other European countries, in the name of “cooperation between states” sanctioned by the Sar Convention, cannot deny this issue: “The identification of the position should be carried out by the state responsible for the SAR area where the persons were rescued, in cooperation with the flag state of the unit”. Finally, the assignment of the port of discharge is a decision made by the Ministry of the Interior and confirmed or modified by the Port Authority on the basis of certain “technical-nautical reports”. “The Geo Barents, which has a draft of 8.5 meters, can call at ports with that depth, or if the ship’s captain presents us with a state of emergency, we intervene and specify another destination so that we can assist her” , concluded the rear admiral.
Words that are greeted with satisfaction brothers of Italy. “The Coast Guard confirms what we have always claimed: the NGO decree does not jeopardize search and rescue operations of migrants in the Mediterranean. Rear Admiral Aulicino has clearly stated that the new decree will make the procurement of the POS faster and more rational, this to the advantage, as well as our internal security, of the same security of migrants,” said Melonia MP Sara Kelany, convinced that the real goal of NGOs “is to continue to evade any kind of control over their work”. “Thanks to this regulation, that will no longer be allowed today,” he commented. He will be supported by my colleague Fabio Raimondo, group leader of Fratelli d’ Italia in the Transport Commission and rapporteur of the decree on NGOs, repeats who declares that “there is no link between a safe port and the nearest port” and “those recovering migrants at sea must not be forced to go to the nearest port , but to that indicated by the Italian authorities, without in any way harming the people on board”. And he concludes: “We are comforted by the fact that all treaties, the law of the sea and the constitution have been respected.