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A German foreign ministry spokesperson
on Saturday denied reports by newspaper Bild that Berlin intends
to discontinue planned four-year funding of German NGOs
conducting migrant search and rescue in the Central
Mediterranean next year.
The reported failure to include a two million euro allocation in
the 2024 budget is "a technical oversight" that it has been
planned to rectify "for weeks", the spokesperson for Foreign
Minister Annalena Baerbock of the Green party told ANSA.
"The media reports are incorrect," he continued.
On Friday evening the newspaper Bild reported that the German
government had deliberately omitted the two million euro funding
allocation for NGOs operating civilian rescue ships that rescue
migrants and refugees and disembark them in Italy on grounds it
is the nearest safe port from the 2024 budget following a row
with Rome over the issue.
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