"L 'Aquarius come to us, you will be able to dock in Valencia”. The surprise announcement comes from the Spanish new prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, who with these words unravels a tangle that has become embarrassing for the entire European Union. "We want to avoid more deaths in the Mediterranean," tweeted the mayor of the Spanish city Joan Ribò.
The case concerns the ship with 629 people on board, including 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and 7 pregnant women. Italy had asked Valletta to welcome the vessel, but the Government of Malta had refused.
“We had asked for a gesture of solidarity from the EU on this emergency. I can only thank the Spanish authorities for accepting the invitation”, commented the Italian premier Giuseppe Conte, explaining that Spain's decision goes "in the direction of solidarity".
Immediately after Matteo Salvini he spoke at the press conference: “The problem was solved thanks to the good heart of the Spanish government, but it is clear that the European Union cannot go ahead with a good heart. We are counting on a new beginning from today. My predecessors had not decided to raise the tone in an obstructive way: we did it, with a compact government, in the face of those who were looking for splits in the government. We scored a point in our favor, but it's not the end of anything. The vessel of a German NGO flying the Dutch flag is 28 miles off the coast of Libya. If she too were to carry a load of migrants, we will continue our line of common sense and sharing. The curious thing is that these NGO ships don't have one flying the Italian flag. We must found a new Europe on true solidarity and not on words. I am happy that I have taken on the task of opening this window of justice, with all the threats and insults that have reached me and they only give me more strength. We're trying to make up for years of previous sleep."
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Salvini then has the measures that Italy intends to adopt: “The first is that of Costs that Italian citizens support for this army of fake refugees. At the moment we spend 35 euros for each one: we want to reduce this cost. And I want to see if these professional supporters will continue to do what they do with less money in their pockets. Another front is that of the times for the disposal of the requests: today they arrive at three years from the disembarkation to the end of the path. We will work on costs and times to guarantee real refugees. We have finally opened a front in Brussels. And I don't exclude my next presence in Libya. We have to tackle the problem upstream."
This morning Salvini had reiterated Italy's hard line via Facebook: “Enough. Saving lives is a duty, turning Italy into a huge refugee camp is not. Italy has stopped bowing its head and obeying, this time there are those who say no”.
A tough surrender of position, which has created many frictions with the 5 Star Movement. Several Grillini exponents do not share Salvini's choice and believe that humanitarian reasons should prevail over political ones. The most slippery position, however, is that of Danilo Toninelli, Minister of Infrastructures, given that – in theory – the law assigns the management of ports to his ministry. The Northern League leader therefore bypassed his government colleague, launching the hashtag #we close the ports without consulting him.
After that, Toninelli aligned himself on Twitter: “This time it is necessary for everyone to understand that international law cannot foresee an Italy abandoned to itself. We will always save human lives, but Malta is the spy of a Europe that needs to change”.
Then there was the case of the mayor of Livorno, Philip Nogarin, who had announced via Facebook the willingness of his municipality to welcome Aquarius in port, only to then delete the post so as not to create incurable rifts with the League. "When I realized that objectively this could create problems for the government, it seemed correct to remove the post - said Nogarin - That still remains my position and I think I interpret that of a city which, with respect to these issues, has always had great sensitivity.
