The Meloni government has imposed new fines on three rescue NGOs operating in the Mediterranean. Inside her government, however, there is “allalum” about immigration
The Meloni government’s difficult relationship with NGOs continues. Three NGO ships were fined 10,000 euros and temporarily seized for twenty days. These are the ships Sea Eye 4, Sea Watch and the Open Arms vessel.
The government of Rome imposed a fine with a ban on action for three weeks, because they carried out rescues, south of Sicily, without prior consultation with the Italian authorities. “We apply the law, the direct or indirect facilitation of irregular immigration and any support for human trafficking is prohibited,” said the Italian Prime Minister.
Before the 15th of August, however, a decidedly more flexible strategy had been adopted: several NGO ships were allowed to carry out dozens of rescues of migrants and refugees in the territorial waters of Tunisia and Libya. As the Italian press underlines, the disembarking of the rescued did not take place in Sicilian ports, but in much more northern areas. In other words, it took three days of extra travel for the “desperate ones of the sea” to get ashore.
A more elastic and a stricter line
The temporary phase of cooperation with the Italian authorities was obviously a necessary solution. The coast guard, the speedboats of the economic police and the Rome port are too often unable to cope with calls for help from migrants who are at risk of drowning.
The government of Georgia Melonia has decided to adopt a stricter stance again, after the publication of a series of facts that took place on the 15th of August. That is, when it was announced that more than 100,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea since the beginning of the year and when more than 150 multiple rescue operations by NGOs were exceeded.
However, the situation in the central Mediterranean remains dramatic: according to the latest data, this year more than 2,000 people who had set sail from Tunisia in the hope of reaching the coast of Lower Italy have died.
The EU’s agreement with the Tunisian government does not seem to have changed, at least so far, this whole reality. It is clear that Lampedusa for countless people remains a modern promised land.
Source :Skai
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