Rome, Sept. 25, (dpa/GNA) – Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has expressed surprise over German financial aid for civilian sea rescue organizations.
In a letter to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Meloni, from the ultra-right Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party, wrote that she was astonished to learn that the German government wants to financially support organizations that support boat migrants in Italy, according to Italian media on Monday.
Meloni’s office confirmed the reports to dpa.
Rome considers German government support for aid organizations that look after migrants on Italian soil to be interference in its domestic affairs.
On Friday, the German Foreign Office pointed out that this support was implementing a decision taken by parliament.
The first tranche of money – between €400,000-800,000 ($427,000-854,000) – is to be disbursed to a project for care operations on land and a project for rescue at sea. One of the organizations receiving the funds is SOS Humanity, which runs migrant rescue boats on the Mediterranean Sea.
Germany’s substantial support for such organizations operating on Italian territory raises questions, Meloni continued in the letter, dated last Saturday. Moreover, there had been no coordination with the Italian government, and any EU state interested in concrete support for Italy should find structural solutions, the prime minister continued. As an example, Meloni mentioned the work on an EU initiative with the transit countries in North Africa.
The government in Rome has taken an increasingly harsh tone against Berlin in recent days, with Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto speaking of “very serious” behaviour. Crosetto also belongs to the governing Fratelli d’Italia party.
GNA