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Italy adopts decree to make it easier to expel migrants as licence of NGO rescue ship in the Mediterranean is revoked

The migrant rescue ship Aquarius leaving Marseilles harbour in August 2018 after a month of maintenance work - AFP
The migrant rescue ship Aquarius leaving Marseilles harbour in August 2018 after a month of maintenance work - AFP

Italy’s populist coalition passed a bill on Monday which will make it harder for migrants to claim humanitarian protection and easier to expel failed asylum seekers.

The decree is part of the coalition’s concerted efforts to reduce the number of migrants arriving by boat from North Africa and to repatriate those who are denied asylum status.

Migrants or refugees who request asylum will have their applications denied if they are considered “socially dangerous” or convicted of crimes, Matteo Salvini, the interior minister said.

Those crimes could include dealing drugs and bag-snatching, said Mr Salvini, who is head of the anti-immigration League party and has spear-headed the crackdown on migrants since the coalition came to power four months ago.

“I’m  happy,” he wrote on Facebook after the decree was passed. “This is a step forward in making Italy safer – fighting Mafiosi and traffickers, reducing the cost of an overblown immigration system and expelling more rapidly delinquents and fake refugees.”

He added: “The more the Left attack me, the more strength they give me.” He said the bill brought Italy into line with other EU nations.

Italy’s parliament now has 60 days in which to debate the decree and vote it into law.

But Maurizio Martina, the head of the opposition, centre-Left Democratic Party, said the decree would lead to an increase in “clandestine” immigration as migrants tried to bypass the new laws. 

Matteo Salvini is interior minister and head of the hard-Right League - Credit: Luca Bruno/AP
Matteo Salvini is interior minister and head of the hard-Right League Credit: Luca Bruno/AP

Meanwhile, the last migrant rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean had its registration revoked by Panama, with humanitarian organisations accusing the Italian government of being behind the move.

The Aquarius, operated by the NGOs Medecins Sans Frontieres and SOS Mediterranee, will no longer be able to patrol the waters north of the Libyan coast in search of migrant boats.

In a strongly-worded statement, the organisations said they were “reeling” from the decision and blamed Italy’s coalition for exerting pressure on the Panamanian government to have the ship’s license withdrawn.

They said the Panama Maritime Authority had been “forced” to revoke the registration of the search and rescue vessel “under blatant economic and political pressure from the Italian government.”

The charities said they had received a message from Panamanian authorities in which they said that “it is necessary that (the Aquarius) be excluded from our registry, because it implies a political problem against the Panamanian government and the Panamanian fleet (using) European ports.”

Thousands of lives would now be put at risk, the NGOs said.

EU collaboration with the Libyan coast guard has blocked huge numbers of migrants from crossing the Mediterranean in the last year, but some boats do manage to get through the blockade.

Around 21,000 migrants and refugees have been rescued and brought to Italy so far this year, 80 per cent fewer than in the same period last year - Credit: Emilio Morenatti/AP
Around 21,000 migrants and refugees have been rescued and brought to Italy so far this year, 80 per cent fewer than in the same period last year Credit: Emilio Morenatti/AP

So far this year 20,000 migrants and refugees have been rescued and brought to Italy, while 1,260 people have died on the crossing.

“This announcement condemns hundreds of men, women children who are desperate to reach safety to a watery grave,” the NGOs said in a statement.

Since coming to power in June, the coalition has made it increasingly hard for NGO rescue vessels to operate, closing Italian ports and insisting that other countries, such as Spain and Malta, accept rescued refugees and migrants.

The Aquarius was the last remaining NGO search and rescue boat in the central Mediterranean.

MSF and SOS Mediterranee demanded that EU governments issue a new flag under which the ship can sail.

“European leaders appear to have no qualms implementing increasingly abusive and vicious tactics that serve their own political interests at the expense of human lives,” said Karline Kleijer, MSF’s head of emergencies.

Migrants and refugees who are intercepted by the Libyan coast guard are returned to squalid detention centres where conditions are appalling and abuse is rife.

Mr Salvini denied that Rome had exerted any pressure on Panama, but at the same time welcomed the move.

“I don’t know what reason Panama had, but I can assure all Italians that this ship will never again be allowed to arrive in Italy. I don’t want to be complicit in the trafficking of human beings,” he said.

Mr Salvini applauded the Libyan coast guard for intercepting migrant boats.