Berlin to stop funding for migrant NGOs in 2024 - media

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 7 - The German government intends to stop funding non-governmental organisations (NGOs) conducting migrant search and rescue missions in the central Mediterranean starting from 2024 following protests from Italy, Bild newspaper reports.
    In the 2023 budget the German foreign ministry had reportedly allocated around two million euros for NGOs participating in the so-called civil fleet of vessels operating the the dangerous stretch of sea between Italy and north Africa.
    "Now the U-turn: in the draft 2024 budget, the ministry has not included the same two million allocation" for NGOs, the paper writes.
    The Bild adds that sources in the Budget Committee claim the omission "is not an oversight".
    "The Chancellery is opposed to the additional payment, and the foreign ministry thinks the same way," the sources said.
    Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz patched things up at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the informal European Council meeting in Granada on Friday following tensions over migrants.
    The row centred on the decision by Germany to fund German NGOs that carry out search-and-rescue operations in the central Mediterranean and then disembark rescued the migrants and refugees in Italy.
    There had also been differences between the two States over the key crisis management section of the new EU pact on migration and asylum, but agreement was reached on this on Wednesday after Germany dropped an amendment. (ANSA).