The two partners in Italy's populist
government, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the anti-migrant
Euroskeptic League and Luigi Di Maio of the anti-establishment
5-Star Movement, on Tuesday hit back at France and Spain after
criticism of Salvini's rejection of NGO migrant ship Aquarius.
Meanwhile the European Union said everyone was responsible
for the migrant emergency, not just Italy and Malta.
Salvini said on Twitter "Spain wants to report us, France
says I'm 'sickening'.
"I want to work serenely with all, but with one principle:
#Italiansfirst".
League European Parliament Whip Mara Bizzotto replied to
France's En Marche spokesman Gabriel Attal's description of
Italy's migrant policy as "sickening" by saying "on migration
the position of Macron's France is sickening, not that of
Minister Salvini."
She said "the En Marche spokesman should think about
his government and should wash his mouth out before talking
about Italy and Salvini".
Macron himself called Salvini "cynical and irresponsible" in
refusing migrant ship Aquarius, which was eventually accepted by
Spain.
Europe should give "concrete aid" rather than money to help
ease the migrant emergency, Salvini said.
"We don't want money from Europe, we want concrete aid on the
thousands of relocations that are only on paper and not
effective," he said.
He said the aim should be "reducing departures and have the
north of the African continent as country of reception and
selection between real refugees and fake refugees."
Salvini dismissed as "risible" the current contribution of
the EUNavForMed mission.
Italy and Germany will present a joint proposal on the
protection of the Europan Union's external borders "so as not to
waste further time," the Italian interior ministry said after a
"long and cordial" phone call between Salvini and his German
counterpart Horst Seehofer.
The ministry said the ministers saw eye to eye on security
and immigration policies.
Salvini "accepted with pleasure the German minister's
invitation to a meeting shortly in Berlin".
France should open its ports to migrants like Spain has done,
Industry and Labour Minister and Deputy Premier Di Maio said.
Replying to the accusation of "irresponsibility" from
President Macron, Di Maio said "I'm happy the French have
discovered responsibility: if they want we will help them".
Di Maio added that "they should open their ports and we'll
send a few people to France".
Di Maio commented on Macron's criticism of Italy's new harder
line on migration by saying "they can talk...".
The Italian premier's office said that "statements about the
Aquarius affair from France are surprising and denote a serious
lack of information on what is really happening.
"Italy cannot accept hypocritical lessons from countries who
have always preferred to turn away on immigration issues".
The office of Premier Giuseppe Conte said Italy had received
"solidarity" from Spain in the Aquarius case while France had
shown "cynicism".
It said "the Italian government has never abandoned the
almost 700 people on board the Aquarius. The ship was
immediately flanked by two motor launches that gave all
necessary support.
"Having noted Malta's refusal to collaborate and allow the
people to land, we accepted an unprecedented gesture of
solidarity from Spain.
"The same gesture did not come from France, which instead has
on several occasions adopted much more rigid and cynical
policies in the sphere of (migrant) reception"
Meanwhile European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner
Dimitris Avramopoulos said the Aquarius case "is not just an
Italian, Maltese or Spanish responsibility, it is a European
responsibility and requires a European response".
He said "the Aquarius incident shows that our work is not
finished and it won't be over any time soon. We must be
prepared, we can't afford to have a repeat of 2015, we need a
joint structured approach, with solidarity and shared
responsibility".
Avramopoulos said that it was not "a question of whether
Italy's stance was legal or not, but if it is adequate and in
line with European migratory policy."
He said "we will not follow the path of those who say
Italy's behaviour was illegal and I'm still waiting to see how
the situation evolves".
Avramopoulos said the Aquarius case was "just an incident"
and the EU thanked Italy for its migrant reception policy.
"I won't play the blame game. A lot of attention has
been given to the Aquarius case but that is just an incident, a
case," he said.
In these very hours "Italy is saving another 900 migrants and
is maintaining its responsibilities," he said, referring to
migrants rescued by Italian vessels.
"I want to express gratitude for the Herculean efforts Italy
has made in the last three years, for this it must be praised.
The Commission will continue to support Italy".
Avramopoulos said that he was looking forward to working
with Salvini.
"I've had not yet made contact with Minister Salvini. I
thought I'd meet him at the internal affairs council in
Luxembourg, but he didn't come because he had a very important
engagement in the Italian parliament," said Avramopoulos.
"I'm impatient to collaborate with him in the future and to
meet him.
"Minister Salvini has a very important brief and he won't
just be someone the EU Commission will talk to, but he'll also
be a partner in our efforts.
"We'll let him know this when we meet".
Avramopoulos said Brussels was proposing earmarking 34.9
billion euros in the 2021-27 EU budget for strengthening its
external borders and managing migrant flows.
He said this was triple what is contained in the current
budget, 13 billion euros.
He said 21.3 of the 34.9 billion would go towards
reinforcing borders and EU agencies, with 10,000 new
Frontex agents, while 10.4 billion would go towards migrant
management, and 40% of that sum allocated to repatriations.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
