Refugees can forget about reaching Italy: Interior minister

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has reiterated that Italy is determined to keep its ports closed to refugees, saying boats transporting asylum seekers should better forget about reaching the European country.

“These boats can forget about reaching Italy, I want to stop the business of trafficking and mafia,” said Salvini in a Facebook post on Saturday, commenting on the fate of more than 230 refugees now stranded on board a vessel off the coast of Malta.

The Lifeline, a rescue ship operated by a German charity, still lays off Malta. Both Italian and Maltese officials refuse to take in the vessel.

Salvini, a prominent far-right who has risen in the Italian politics relying on his harsh rhetoric against refugees, said the Lifeline and other refugee boats will never be welcome during his term as minister.

“The Lifeline, an illegal ship with 239 immigrants on board is in Maltese waters,” said Salvini, whose party, the League, won around 17 percent of votes in recent parliamentary elections.

Salvini’s refusal to take in the Lifeline comes weeks after Italian officials sparked a renewed row across Europe when they barred the French charity-run Aquarius rescue ship, carrying 630 migrants, from docking in Italy. Spain finally accepted Aquarius after Malta also rejected to take in the boat.

Italy was one of the main destinations for refugees fleeing war and poverty in Africa before the new populist government took office in Rome three weeks ago.

Last year, Italian authorities reached an agreement with the internationally-recognized government as well as the militia in Libya, the main embarkation point for refugees seeking to reach Europe, to curb the flow. However, Salvini has threatened to seize rescue ships or bar them from Italian ports altogether as he tries to keep his word on campaign promises to stop the influx of refugees.

Libyan authorities announced earlier on Saturday that five people died and nearly 200 were rescued off the coast of the North African country while trying to cross the Mediterranean. Some 400 other refugees were also rescued off the coast of Spain.

SS