League No. 2 Andrea Crippa's claim that Germany is using migrants to invade Italy like its armies did in WWII is not the Italian government's position, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Wednesday.
On Tuesday League deputy secretary Crippa said that Germany had gone from using its army to attack other countries in World War II to using migrants today.
The comments were made amid a spat over Berlin's decision to fund a German NGO working to rescue migrants at sea and an Italian one helping them in Italy.
Premier Giorgia Meloni wrote to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Monday saying that she was "amazed" that Berlin had made the decision without liaising with the Italian government.
"They are trying to destabilize the government by funding NGOs to fill us with illegal immigrants and bring down support for the centre right (coalition of government) in Italy," Crippa told Affaritaliani.it.
"Eighty years ago the German government decided to invade other States with the army, but that went badly.
"Now they are funding an invasion of illegal immigrants to destabilize governments that the Social Democrats don't like.
"It is clear that the German government doesn't want the centre right to govern Italy.
"They do everything to put the Italian government in difficulty in the hope of bringing it down".
Tajani, who is also deputy premier and leader of late three-time ex-premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, stressed Wednesday that this was not the position of Meloni's government.
He said Crippa "is not a member of the government, therefore that is not the government's position." The rightwing anti-migrant League party is led by Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, who has been put on trial in Italy over his policy as former interior minister of closing Italian ports to foreign migrant rescue NGOs, leading to charges of abducting people at sea.
Crippa's statement on the alleged resemblance between funding migrant NGOs and past invading armies had spurred criticism from the Italian centre left, which said he should remember that Italy was Germany's WWII ally, and claimed that the majority was again "inventing" enemies.
His words were variously described as "crazy", "dismaying" and "beyond the limits of delirium".
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