The Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni announced that the cabinet will meet today in Koutros, near the area where one occurred in late February tragic shipwreck in which 72 migrants lost their lives, a symbolic move by her far-right government that has been criticized for hindering the work of rescuers.
This cabinet in Calabria is the first organized by the government Meloni outside Rome and will allow her to pass tribute to the victims of the wreck. According to media reports, measures will be taken during the cabinet to increase the penalties for traffickers and to increase legal entry routes into Italy, mainly through humanitarian corridors. The government Melonwhich had made tackling irregular immigration a priority during the election campaign, has been criticized by the opposition and civil society after the wreck – which occurred on the night of February 25-26.
In an open letter, the mayor of Crotone, the city closest to the scene of the tragedy and where the bodies of the migrants were taken, criticized the government for her absence after the wreck. “The community of Crotone, affected by enormous pain, expected from you a message, a report, a gesture, which did not happen,” complained Vincenzo Voce. Meloni dismissed the criticism, saying her government bears no responsibility for the wreck. “The situation is simple but tragic: we have not received any signal from Frontex“, he stated. Italian justice has launched an investigation into the late reaction of the authorities. According to Frontex, one of its aircraft spotted on the evening of February 25 the overcrowded ship, which had departed a week earlier from Turkey, and informed the Italian authorities. The opposition has called for the resignation of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piandendozzi, who has taken a hard line against non-governmental organizations that help migrants in dire straits in the Mediterranean, whose statements after the tragedy lacked even the slightest compassion.
Positive report
The minister, who is close to Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigration Lega party, defended himself before MPs on Tuesday, presenting step by step the circumstances in which the tragedy unfolded. Piandedosi also stated that the Frontex he did not inform Rome that there was a problem with the boat carrying the migrants.
He accused the four alleged traffickers, the last of whom was arrested on Wednesday in Austria, of being responsible for the tragedy because they spent hours on the coast to avoid being noticed by the Italian law enforcement forces and during a dangerous maneuver they crashed on a reef, resulting in damage to the boat which began to take on water.
Piadendozzi even stated that his report to the ministry regarding migrant rescues is positive, explaining that from the end of October until February 27, almost 36,500 people have been rescued at sea. The migratory is a particularly sensitive issue in Italy, a country where tens of thousands of immigrants arrive every year. Rome criticizes its EU partners for not showing solidarity.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen assured, in a letter sent on Monday to Melon, that “it is clear that migration is a European challenge which requires a European response”. At the same time, he underlined “the moral duty to act to avoid similar tragedies”.
Source: News Beast
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