National Post (National Edition)
Italy claims migrant ‘victory’
Italy’s new hard-right interior minister declared victory Monday after Spain offered to take a rescue boat carrying 629 migrants that Rome had refused.
The Gibraltar-flagged Aquarius was left in limbo in the middle of the Mediterranean after Malta said it was Italy’s responsibility and Rome’s new populist government announced it would refuse the vessel.
Matteo Salvini, the interior minister and the head of the hard-right League party, one-half of the coalition, said Italy would not be turned into “an enormous refugee camp,” having accepted around 700,000 asylum seekers in the past five years.
His blocking of the rescue ship was the start of a new, hardline anti-immigrant policy on which the League campaigned heavily during Italy’s election campaign.
A possible breakthrough came when Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, who took office just over a week ago, gave instructions for the boat to be allowed to dock in the eastern port of Valencia. “It’s our duty to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a secure port for these people,” the Socialist premier said.
Salvini, who has promised to stop the “business” of irregular migration across the Mediterranean, was exultant. “Evidently raising your voice, something Italy did not do for years, pays,” he wrote on Twitter in response to the offer from Madrid.
“Victory — 629 migrants on board the ship Aquarius heading for Spain. First objective (of the new government) achieved.”
He has accused NGOS of operating a “taxi service” that brings largely economic migrants, rather than refugees, from Libya to Italy.
“Malta is not acting, France rejects them and Europe doesn’t care,” Salvini wrote. “I’ve had enough.”
“Italy has stopped bowing its head and obeying, this time there is someone who says no. Enough! Saving lives is a duty, but transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp isn’t.”
It was not clear how practical Spain’s offer was, given that the Aquarius was located between Malta and Sicily, around 750 nautical miles from Valencia. It is a three-day voyage and the ship’s crew said they only had enough food for a day or two. The Aquarius is operated jointly by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS Mediterranée. MSF said it had received no instructions to head to Spain.
A long journey would be a severe challenge for many of the migrants, with some suffering from dehydration and exposure. Seven women are pregnant and there are 123 unaccompanied minors.
Even if the Aquarius is diverted to Spain, more migrants will be rescued at sea by NGO boats that will then head for Italy. But the Spanish offer was at least a shortterm triumph for Salvini, who wants to expel half-amillion failed asylum seekers from Italy.