In one week, a thousand migrants embarked on the 4 humanitarian NGO boats were prevented from disembarking in Italy. Rome demanded a selective sorting of refugees on board, to limit disembarkation to only fragile people, contrary to international conventions and European agreements. Without success.
The Italy of four years ago led by Matteo Salvini at the time Minister of the Interior is back. In the spirit of the new Italian government – humanitarian NGOs favor human traffickers. If left unchecked, they stimulate departures by giving poor, desperate people the illusion of a better life in Europe. The slogans of the electoral campaign are now part of the official discourse: NGOs are taxis of the sea. We must help Africans to stay at home. It is immoral to bring in people who will at best end up being cheap labor here. And then there’s the old “nobody’s helping us” refrain.
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Denounce the lack of solidarity, the creed far right
Against illegal immigration, Italy says it is badly placed on the map, opposite Libya and Tunisia, where most of the boats depart from. And according to her, European solidarity is not there. Arrivals by sea have increased significantly since the end of the pandemic: 90,000 this year. Every day, boats arrive independently. The Italian Coast Guard regularly carry out rescues, and the reception centers in Sicily in particular have insufficient capacity to deal with the emergency.
What is wrong is that Italy is alone in the turmoil. Spain, Greece and Malta are also exposed to arrivals by sea. And above all, 90% of refugees in Europe arrive by road or by plane, but not by boat. And there are far more asylum seekers in Germany, France and even Spain than in Italy. In addition, the country benefits from European solidarity, with subsidies for the reception of newcomers. And since the signing in June 2022 of a solidarity pact, 18 European countries have committed to relocating 10,000 asylum seekers per year.
Meloni and the EU, the big gap
Giorgia Meloni, to be elected, had promised to make Italy heard with a strong voice in Brussels on the question of migrants. But will she get there? That remains to be seen because in fact Meloni was only applauded by Victor Orban, Hungary’s far-right prime minister. She will undoubtedly find sympathy in Poland where the problem of the border with Belarus is critical.
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But Giorgia Meloni has changed sides. Last week, in Brussels, she was all smiles in front of Ursula Von der Leyen, and ready to cooperate. But it did the opposite and launched a battle against NGOs without consultation, without notice. She alienated Germany, France and Brussels. It’s a lot when you lead a country over-indebted which can only get by with the funds of the European recovery plan.
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