Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday rejected opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein’s claim that that the government’s migrants policy had been a “boomerang” after several EU countries said they were sending migrants back to Italy under the EU’s new Migration and Asylum Pact, saying that the pact in fact protected Italy.
The premier also said there was no connection between the pact and Rome’s decision to suspend Schengen rules after the Ceuta crisis that saw Madrid respond in kind, a link Schlein and the centre left have tried to make.
“Elly Schlein speaks of a ‘boomerang’ and of an alleged government failure in managing migrants.
“But before spreading propaganda, it would be useful to understand the difference between the issues being discussed.
“Schengen and the Pact on Migration and Asylum are two completely different things and have nothing to do with each other.
“And it is precisely the new Pact that marks a positive turning point for Italy in the management of so-called ‘Dubliner’ migrants.
“The new rules provide much greater protection for countries of first entry in terms of asylum requests and, with the strengthening of the principle of a safe third country advocated by Italy, it will be easier to carry out accelerated repatriations.” Meloni went on to say that under her government 80,000 migrant requests had been rejected, which the Left would have accepted Since 2023, she aid, her administration had opposed rules that senselessly penalized Italy.
“This government has opposed the application of rules that senselessly penalize us, and in fact, from 2023 to today, Italy has rejected approximately 80,000 requests for admission from other member states.
And it is thanks to this government’s firmness that Italy has not simply passively accepted everything other states asked of us.
“What would a left-wing government have done? “It would likely have accepted those requests, further increasing the pressure on our reception system and creating even more problems in managing migration flows.”
