Italy is ready to block the
conclusions of the upcoming EU summit on migrants, sources said
Wednesday.
It is ready to do so, they said, unless the final text
includes the concept of shared responsibility on sea rescues.
The sources said this was the 'red line' for Rome.
Italy is asking that there should be support from the other
EU countries in the docking of of ships carrying out activities
of search and rescue in the Mediterranean, and in the
redistribution of migrants, the sources said.
In essence, that would mean overcoming the Dublin Regulation
and the country of entry's responsibility for migrant
registration.
If the concept of shared responsibility is accepted, the
sources said, and a recognition of the need to work on arrivals,
Rome is willing to collaborate on secondary movements, a
delicate issue for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is vying
with hawkish Interior Minister Horts Seehofer on this at a
domestic level.
As well, Italy will agree to having closed centres for
migrants if other countresi do so at the request of France and
Spain.
Earlier Premier Giuseppe Conte said that the European Union
must overhaul the Dublin Regulation on asylum.
"The Dublin Regulation should be surpassed because there is
no doubt that it is inadequate for the management of migratory
flows," Conte said as he reported to the Lower House ahead of
this week's summit.
The regulation states that the country where an asylum seeker
first arrives in the EU must handle the relative asylum request.
This means that the burden of migrant flows from North Africa
has fallen almost entirely upon Italy due to its geographic
position.
Italy is seeking to make this week's summit a turning point
for the bloc, Conte said.
"Italy's contribution can make the European Council a
watershed," he said.
"We must make it possible to design the Europe that we want".
Conte stressed that his government "speaks with only one,
firm and resolute, voice in Europe".
"Italy is a net contributor to the EU budget, we think we
deserve more attention" he added.
The Lower House on Wednesday approved a resolution presented
by the ruling majority, the League and the 5-Star Movement
(M5S), on Conte's report to parliament ahead of this week's
European summit.
The resolution, which was approved with 320 votes in favour,
119 against and 126 abstentions, called for the government to
pursue a strategy seeking to introduce migrant-reception centres
in the countries of origin and transit, among other things.
Conte will make a official visit to Washington for a
bilateral meeting with United States President Donald Trump on
July 30, sources said Wednesday.
Earlier this month Trump told Fox News that Conte was
"fantastic" and that "it seems being tough on immigration now
pays".
Meanwhile Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat said Wednesday that
the Lifeline will be given permission to dock in Malta later in
the day, adding that the migrant-rescue ship is set to be
impounded.
The ship, which is at the centre of an international wrangle,
was given permission to enter Maltese waters to shelter from bad
weather conditions earlier on Wednesday but did not get the
green light to dock.
"The Lifeline will be sequestered for the launch of an
investigation," Muscat told a news conference.
"The captain of the vessel ignored international laws".
The NGO ship has been stranded for days in the Mediterranean
after picking up the migrants in distress off the Libyan coast.
The Italian government had threatened to impound the Lifeline
if it came to Italy, saying the rescue was illegal.
Italian Premier Conte said Tuesday that Malta had agreed to
allow it to land there as part of a deal under which Italy and
other EU countries would receive quotas of the migrants on
board.
However, the spokesman for the NGO, Axel Steier, told ANSA
that German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had stopped Germany
from taking part in the agreement to take in a share of the 233
migrants onboard.
Steier said Seehofer was "Germany's Salvini".
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has spearheaded the
tough stance on migrants of the new League/5-Star Movement (M5S)
government that saw another NGO-run migrant-rescue ship, the
Aquarius, have to travel to Valencia after it was denied
permission to dock in an Italian port.
Salvini continued his spat with French President Emmanuel
Macron in an interview released by CNN on Wednesday.
"Macron talks about values, but he doesn't recognize the
values itself, and therefore they have no lessons to give to
Italy," Salvini told CNN after the French leader criticised his
tough stance on migrants.
"With nice words we never obtained anything. In this month of
government with our actions, we managed to be listened to - the
Spanish intervened, Malta must intervene, and so do the French,
the German, the Dutch ... it's clear that we need a different
kind of politics.
"We need to revisit the Dublin rules (on asylum), we need to
invest in Africa. But I think we obtained more in this month
than in the previous six years of chatter".
(Speaking outside the Italian parliament, Salvin added that
Macron is "acting up" and criticising the Italian government
because his ratings have slumped to a new low.
The deputy premier said "France must clear things up with the
Italians and with itself: Macron is acting up because his
popularity is at an all-time low in his country".
Salvini added that Macron's caress for Pope Francis at
an audience in the Vatican Tuesday was "something that has never
been seen before".)
Salvini also told CNN that being called a populist was a
"compliment for me".
The deputy premier said "the term populist is used as an
insult but it's a compliment for me".
He said "listening to people, being a minister who goes
around cities, squares, stations and hospitals is a duty and a
pleasure for me".
(Salvini also said trade tariffs, floated by coalition
partner and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio Tuesday, could
defend Italians' jobs and health.
Asked if he agreed with Di Maio, Salvini said "I will support
all government proposals to defend the jobs and health of the
Italians".
He said "outlawed products, agricultural and commercial, are
arriving which are a danger to health.
"All protection also means commercial protections," he said.)
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