Migrants, Johansson: “EU ready to help Italy”. Piantedosi: “Saturated reception centers”

On the arrivals of migrants in Italy «we are ready to give support and help in this situation. And I will also have the opportunity to meet the new Italian minister tomorrow in Germany and this is perhaps something I will discuss». This was stated by the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Ylva Johansson, meeting the press after the meeting of the College of Commissioners. Tomorrow in Germany, Minister Matteo Piantedosi is expected at the G7 meeting on the Interior.

“Immigration: Macron on the defensive”: this is the title of a long article that the French newspaper Le Monde dedicates today to the situation of the French president after the Ocean Viking case which has aroused very harsh reactions in French politics, as well as the clash with Rome. “Put under pressure from the right and from the extreme right, the executive tries not to embody too ‘welcoming’ a line”, writes the Parisian newspaper, after the 234 shipwrecked Ocean Vikings saw the port of Toulon open between repetitive poisons and controversies. Quoted by Le Monde, the former interior minister and mayor of Lyon, Gérard Collomb, promoter of an intransigent line towards migrants, warns: «If we welcome one, then what do we do, don’t we welcome others? It is an untenable situation. Macron wants to do one thing and then another (…) If there is no firm line now, Marine Le Pen will win next time!»

“The accusation against NGOs of collaborating with traffickers, which has never been proven, is seriously defamatory and is extremely offensive to us who pay in our flesh for the consequences of the attacks that the Libyan mafia addresses us precisely for our work” , explained in Avvenire the chaplain of Mediterranea Saving Humans, don Mattia Ferrari, who recounted how “the pounding media propaganda that seeks to inculcate in people the idea that the rescue organizations that operate at sea would collaborate with the traffickers of human beings, that is, with the Libyan mafia». Ferrari therefore asked “that this defamatory and offensive propaganda be put to an end”, underlining that “it has been demonstrated that eliminating sea rescue organizations and supporting pushbacks favors the Libyan mafia precisely, offering it our brothers and sisters migrant sisters”.

«We also had the opportunity to have a chat with the President of the European Council Charles Michel on immigration. What happened in the last few days demonstrates once again how the solutions identified up to now are probably not the best and are not sufficient. So we thought about how to organize meetings in which we can put the various solutions on the table to try to collaborate on a subject on which it is much better to collaborate rather than to discuss». This was stated by the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, meeting the press in Bali, at the end of the G20.

“Building electoral campaigns on the nature of the migrant’s enemy and on the concept of invasion is a characterizing element of this majority”. This was stated by Antonio Nicita of the Democratic Party speaking in the Senate Hall as part of the debate after the information from Minister Piantedosi. «I’m sorry he – he observed turning to the minister – that he mentioned the word dignity twice, passing over Catania and Toulon. I have been to Catania. It was an event made up of people, words, looks that have nothing to do with dignity. We have introduced a principle of selectivity in fragility, which besides being unconstitutional introduces another induced vulnerability. They asked us why? Where does this discrimination come from?’. It was born with the residual load, it was born to make a media show».

“It is clear – he observed in another passage – that European cooperation is needed but as long as one insists on pursuing the sovereigns of national solitude, solidarity will not be found, another idea of ​​Europe is needed”.

“We – he underlined – will always be on the same side and if you are looking for the criminalization of those who save lives we will not be there, we will always be on those ships and not because we are do-gooders but because we want to save ourselves and our Europe and if humanity we will have stopped looking at it, then we will have lost ourselves too».

«If we rightly want to raise this issue throughout Europe, I believe that we must do so starting from an element that gives us strength, that is, rescuing people who are about to die at sea. Then we do all the discussion to make sure that this is rightly a theme of all of Europe and not Italy. We do not share other attitudes and other logics because they are wrong on a human and political level. If you want to change Europe’s policies, you need alliances and not discounts that are useless except to put some political flag in our country”. This was underlined by the General Secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, at the end of the meeting at Palazzo Chigi with Minister Raffaele Fitto on the Pnrr.

On migrants, “we have raised a general problem. It’s not a problem that Italy has with France, we pose a political problem of legality». This was stated by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in a press conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. The Dublin regulation “seems tired” and is now in danger of being outdated, but European solidarity cannot be ignored. And it seems to me that this cry from the southern border countries is starting to be welcomed, there is availability. Problems are not solved in a meeting, but I have found, starting from Greece, Malta and Slovenia, solidarity».

«On November 3, the embassy of the Kingdom of Norway denied any responsibility for search and rescue activities carried out outside its SAR area» in relation to the Ocean Viking ship. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said it in his report to the Senate on the management of migratory flows and on the recent interventions of NGO ships in the central Mediterranean.

«Starting from 22 October, the Ocean Viking sent requests for place of safety to the Italian, Maltese, Libyan, French, Greek and Spanish authorities and for information to Norway, the flag state», Piantedosi explained, underlining that therefore «it is urged Norway, as a flag State also in this case, to carry out any necessary action for the identification of a place of safety for migrants in the exercise of their powers on ships”.

“The presence of NGO ships continues to represent a factor of attraction, a ‘pull factor'” for the flows of migrants and they are also important for “criminal organizations that base their modus operandi on the presence of NGO assets in the area”. Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, in his report to the Senate.

In 2022 there were 69,000 asylum requests, 56% more than last year. And 57% of those examined ended in denial; it means that the majority of migrants who arrive in Italy are driven by economic reasons and have no right to stay here. Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, in his report to the Senate.

There are 100,000 migrants in the reception system and the prefectures report a saturation of places, availability and critical issues. Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, in his report to the Senate.

On immigration «we act with humanity and firmness: we have no intention of failing in the duties of reception, but Italy is not entered illegally, the selection is not done by human traffickers. We want to govern the flows rather than suffer them». Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, in his report to the Senate.