(MENAFN- AzerNews) The Italian defense minister on Sunday criticized Germany for
its recent decision to fund the NGOs rescuing migrants in the
Mediterranean and disembarking them on the Italian shore, Azernews reports, citing Yeni Safak.
Speaking to the Italian daily La Stampa, Defense Minister Guido
Crosetto called the German move“very serious.”
“Berlin pretends not to realize that, in doing so, it causes
difficulties to a country that in theory should be a friend,” he
said.
Crosetto added:“It is the ideological approach of a certain
political left that does not take into account the consequences of
its theories on the people.”
He said that Italy remains resolute in combating the human
smugglers, who he said should be treated as international
criminals.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the German Foreign Ministry told
Italy's state-run ANSA news agency that saving people who drown and
find themselves in distress at sea is a“legal, humanitarian and
moral duty.”
On Sep. 22, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office
voiced "great astonishment” at the news reported by ANSA, according
to which a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry had announced
imminent funding to NGOs for a project to assist migrants on
Italian territory and a project of rescues at sea.
Later it became known that the NGO to receive the funding is SOS
Humanity, which operates rescue vessels in the central
Mediterranean. The NGO itself said it had been allocated €790,000
($843,000).
Separately, the Catholic Sant'Egidio Community charity said on
Friday it had signed a fresh deal with Berlin to fund migrant
activities in Italy, as part of a years-long relationship.
The number of migrants landed in Italy so far this year has
reached over 127,000 – more than double that of the same period in
2022. The majority have set off from Tunisia, where in July,
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission head
Ursula von der Leyen signed a controversial deal to stem irregular
migration.
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