Centre-right opposition party
Forza Italia (FI) upped pressure on the government over its
immigration policy Wednesday by announcing investigations into
its naval surveillance and rescue programme.
"Forza Italia has requested and obtained a fact-finding
investigation into Mare Nostrum to shed light on its aims," said
FI Senator Maurizio Gasparri of the programme launched after
some 400 people died in two migrant-boat disasters near
Lampedusa in October 2013.
"The Italian government has employed its Navy, which has
become a de facto taxi service for undocumented immigrants," he
continued, also calling for new intervention in North Africa to
prevent migrants - many of whom currently travel through Libya
or Tunisia - from even leaving its shores.
Senators of the New Centre Right (NCD), a minority partner
in Premier Matteo Renzi's left-right government, instead called
on the Italian authorities to explore the possibility of taking
rescued migrants to ports in Croatia, Slovenia, France or Spain
instead of Italy.
This, said Carlo Giovanardi and Luigi Compagna, makes sense
as many of the migrants who land in Italy are heading for
countries in northern Europe.
The requests came as Italian navy vessel Aliseo rescued 169
migrants, including 16 women and 64 children, from waters off
the southern island of Sicily under the Mare Nostrum programme.
The Italian coastguard also said 191 migrants rescued
Tuesday some 20 nautical miles east of Malta had arrived in the
Sicilian port of Pozzallo.
On Tuesday authorities said a total of 1,149 migrants had
been rescued by Italian Navy vessels since Sunday from the seas
south of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa under the surveillance
and rescue mission.
The rescues came as Northern League secretary Matteo
Salvini said that Italy must suspend rescue operations because
they are too expensive and represent an "invasion" of Italian
shores.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
