Italian government takes measures against sea rescuers

“There will certainly be new measures,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday. She was asked at a press conference whether Italy is planning measures and, for example, wanted to arrest ships belonging to international organizations that did not comply with Italian rules. The right-wing politician did not specifically address this and did not provide any details.

Earlier this week, the new government initially banned two organizations – Germany’s SOS Humanity and Doctors Without Borders – from disembarking all rescued migrants from their ships at the port of Catania. This only happened when the health service disembarked the men left on the ships for medical reasons. Meloni recently called the measure “bizarre”. A ship of the organization SOS Méditerranée, the “Ocean Viking”, was not allowed to enter Italian waters and was sent to France. This caused a diplomatic dispute between Rome and Paris.

International seafarers have been complaining for years that they have been repeatedly deterred by Italy and often have to wait unnecessarily long for a port to be assigned by the authorities. The NGOs reported intimidation, including the boarding of ships, sometimes on slack grounds and after arbitrary checks. The European Court of Justice had banned unfounded checks in early August.

Critics accuse the foreign organizations of promoting crossings on the dangerous Mediterranean route and helping smugglers in their work.

Meloni wants to completely prevent refugees and migrants from making their way from North Africa to Southern Italy. She wants a naval blockade and above all a European solution to the problem. She recently spoke about this with French President Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

(SDA)