Italy – Germany

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has admitted that she had hoped that her right-wing government would have gained more control over the irregular influx of migrants into Italy than is the case. “It is clear that we had hoped that we would do better in the area where we have worked so hard,” she says in an interview with the television station TG1. Meloni has promised that her government will reduce the number of migrants arriving in Italy across the Mediterranean. However, over 130,000 arrivals have been recorded this year – twice as many as in the same period in 2022. Since more than 8,500 migrants arrived on the small island of Lampedusa in just three days earlier in September, Meloni has called on the EU for help, including a new crackdown on human smugglers in Tunisia.
     But tensions are rising both within the Italian coalition government and between Italy and other EU countries. A dispute between Italy and Germany over immigration policy in the EU intensified on Sunday over the efforts of private German aid agencies in the Mediterranean.
     The German Foreign Ministry said Friday that the support given by the Federal Government to private aid organisations such as SOS Humanity, which helps migrants in distress in the Mediterranean, has been decided by the German Parliament. Germany has previously refused to accept migrants staying in Italy, which is “a signal” to the Italian government.
     The signal is a reference to a European solidarity plan aimed at reducing pressure on EU countries with external borders or ports, which are often the places where migrants arrive. According to Germany, the decision not to accept migrants from Italy is due to the fact that Italy is not fulfilling its obligations in the solidarity plan. /ritzau/