Melons on migrants and the diplomatic crisis with France

Misunderstandings. This is the key with which Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tries to explain the diplomatic crisis with France. The note from Palazzo Chigi released on Tuesday evening which attributed to the French government the intention to welcome the NGO Ocean Viking ship in its ports and which unleashed the anger of the president Emmanuel Macron in reality it was meant to be “a relaxing gesture”.

“There were some misunderstandings – underlines Meloni in the post cdm press conference – France had declared that it would welcome the Ocean Viking and would not make a selection, as it would have happened in Italy, this news was not denied for 8 hours and therefore I said ‘thank you for the gesture of solidarity’. My words were meant to be a relaxing gesture “.

The premier then said she was “very impressed by the aggressive reaction of the French government” which she considers “incomprehensible and unjustified”. And he added: “I believe it is worth putting together two numbers: the NGO Ocean Viking ship docking in France today is the first NGO ship ever to dock in France with 230 migrants. This generated a very harsh reaction. towards Italy, which has brought in almost 90,000 emigrants “. Then he added: “Do you think that Italy, by choice of all the others, is the only possible port of landing for migrants arriving from Africa? I don’t think it’s not fair. To those who say that we are not a state Responsible EU “, I say that” while the Ocean Viking was being discussed, it made 600 people disembark on the same day. In front of 234 people, diplomatic relations are skipped? It seems to me that “this” risks betraying something else “, which” for the first time there is another possible port “.

The conclusion is that Italy cannot continue to be the only country dealing with migrants: “I continue to give my willingness to meet and put solutions on the table because I frankly do not know what they are. We are no longer able to deal with it and we have a mandate to deal with it in a different way “. And the solution – for the premier – can only be to defend the European borders: “Now we can do three things: we can decide that we are the only port in Europe but I don’t agree, I didn’t have this mandate. two: I don’t think we have to fight every time with France, Greece … The only common solution, and I talked about it with Macron, Germany and the EU, is the defense of the external borders of the EU, blocking departures, opening hotspots. spent millions of euros to help Turkey, now we need a European solution “.