The German government is to fund
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to support
migrants and refugees arriving in Italy by sea and once they
have arrived, a German foreign ministry spokesman told ANSA on
Friday. "Funding of hundreds of thousands of euros for a project
to assist migrants ashore in Italy and one for an NGO that
operates rescues "at sea" is "imminent", said the spokesperson,
without specifying which organisations would receive the
funding. The spokesperson told ANSA that the foreign ministry is
implementing a "financial support programme set up by the
Bundestag (the German parliament, ed.) that aims to "support
both civil rescue at sea and projects on land for people rescued
at sea". "We have received several applications for funding. In
two cases, the examination of the applications has already been
completed. The disbursement of funds in these two cases is
imminent," he continued. "These are a project for the onshore
assistance in Italy of people rescued at sea and a project of a
non-governmental organisation on sea rescue," said the
spokesman, adding that each project would receive between
400,000 and 800,000 euros. "Rescuing people who are in distress
at sea is a legal, humanitarian and moral duty," he continued.
"Like national coast guards, in particular the Italian Coast
Guard, civilian rescuers in the central Mediterranean also use
their ships to save people in distress at sea," concluded the
spokesperson. Several German NGOs already operate migrant search
and rescue missions in the central Mediterranean, alongside
others from France and Italy. The right-wing government of
Premier Giorgia Meloni has restricted their activities by
banning multiple sea rescues and instructing ships to disembark
rescued migrants and refugees in distant ports. Italy is
struggling to manage a 100% increase in the number of sea
arrivals in 2023, with 132,832 people having arrived so far
according to interior ministry data. 1,599 migrants and refugees
died or went missing in the Central Mediterranean in the same
period according to UNHCR data.
The Italian government is astonished at news that Germany is
set to fund NGOs rescuing migrants at sea and helping them in
Italy too, and demands clarification, sources at the office of
Premier Giorgia Meloni said Friday. The sources voiced "great
astonishment at the news reported by ANSA according to which a
spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of
Germany has announced imminent funding to NGOs for a project to
assist migrants on Italian territory and a project of 'rescues'
at sea". "The Italian government will immediately contact the
German authorities for clarification. "It is hoped that the news
is unfounded because the financing by Germany of NGO activities
on Italian territory would be a serious anomaly."
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