A Comissão e o Conselho Europeus não se entendem, ou melhor,
parece que Tusk nào está disposto a aceitar as manobras manipuladoras de
Juncker para “salvar” Merkel das suas pressões internas na Alemanha.(Merkel
saiu da minicimeira sem acordo e ainda mais fragilizada.)
Seja como for tudo indica que a Cimeira a 28 vai ser um
fiasco total enquanto que António Tajani o Presidente do Parlamento Europeu
avisou: “Tajani warned that unless Europe acted now 20 million African people
would come to Europe over the next few years.”( Guardian)
Agora, a estratégia diplomática de Merkel passará por
soluções bilaterais com os restantes Estados-membros, principalmente com os que
apoiam uma estratégia global para a migração.
Tudo indica que a notícia de hoje “Governo abre portas a
refugiados do navio Lifeline” está nesta linha, isto, ao mesmo tempo que a Lei
da Nacionalidade foi “adaptada” a preparar os Portugueses psicológicamente para
a legalização dos 30.000 imigrantes ilegais que já se encontram em Portugal,
enquanto que António Costa anunciou a surpreendente intenção de “trazer” 75.000
imigrantes ( migrantes ou “refugiados” !? ) para Portugal.
OVOODOCORVO
Council largely rejects Commission’s
proposals on migration — again
New draft conclusions essentially
take just one Commission suggestion.
By JACOPO BARIGAZZI 6/25/18, 10:23 PM CET Updated 6/26/18,
4:00 AM CET
https://www.politico.eu/…/eu-migration-fight-european-coun…/
The Council has again swatted back a move by the European
Commission to lead the discussion on migration in an ongoing power struggle
between the two EU institutions.
The latest Council draft conclusions on migration circulated
on Monday and obtained by POLITICO, which EU leaders will discuss at a summit
this week, largely leaves out amendments proposed by the Commission.
Following a “mini summit” on migration of 16 countries on
Sunday, the Commission pushed the Council to revise its migration plans,
putting forward its own amendments to the Council’s draft conclusions. But the
Council’s new draft essentially takes just one point from the Commission’s
suggestions.
The draft now has a line saying that “the European Council
welcomes the agreement reached on the financing of the Facility for Refugees in
Turkey and the EU Trust Fund for Africa,” which diplomats say comes straight
from the Commission’s amendments.
Another point that was in the Commission’s amendments but
not in the prior Council draft states that proposed regional “disembarkation”
platforms for processing migrants in the Mediterranean must operate “in full
respect of international law.” However, diplomats say this line did not
originally come from the Commission, since it was already raised by some EU
countries during one of their regular meetings at the ambassador level.
“The Council text is simply realistic, as what the
Commission put forward [on Sunday] was once again just its wish list and
nothing more,” said one diplomat involved in the talks, noting that the
discussion around the table at the mini summit was very generic, while the
Commission amendments are very specific.
Commission Secretary-General Martin Selmayr, acting on
behalf of President Jean-Claude Juncker, stirred controversy last week by
proposing a draft leaders’ statement for the mini summit that was clearly
intended to supplant the draft conclusions issued to national capitals just a
day earlier by Council President Donald Tusk.
The Commission text angered Italian officials, who argued
that it only reflects German priorities, as well as Council officials, who see
it as an illegitimate incursion into their territory.
In the end, Selmayr’s text was put aside.
Still, some of the amendments put forward by the Commission,
such as a call to double the amount of returned migrants, could be reinstated
by EU leaders during this week’s summit, or even earlier, another diplomat
involved in the talks said.
“It’s good that the Commission tried to facilitate dialogue,
but the Commission doesn’t write conclusions,” the diplomat said, while also
criticizing how the two institutions have been fighting one another over the
issue: “If the two sides could reinforce each other, we would prefer it.”
The new draft also touches upon reforming the so-called
Dublin regulation for asylum claims. A line in the new text now states that
“the incoming Austrian Presidency is invited to continue work” on the
regulation.
But diplomats say they are not certain this line will make
it into the final conclusions — not only because the Austrian approach to
migration is more focused on external borders than handling asylum seekers
inside the EU, but also because the issue has proved intractable over five
consecutive Council presidencies so a speedy resolution is unlikely.
Conselho Europeu e Comissão Europeia
entraram em choque sobre rascunho de proposta com políticas para a migração
As divisões entre os Estados-membros da União Europeia em
torno da migração vieram para ficar, com a chanceler alemã Angela Merkel a
anunciar ontem que a cimeira europeia de 28 e 29 de junho não chegará a um
compromisso. “Não haverá solução para todo o pacote de asilo, ou seja, para
todas as sete diretivas até sexta-feira”, anunciou ontem a chanceler alemã.
Normalmente, os líderes europeus chegam a acordo sobre um primeiro rascunho de
resolução nos dias que antecedem as cimeiras europeias. Agora, a estratégia
diplomática de Merkel passará por soluções bilaterais com os restantes
Estados-membros, principalmente com os que apoiam uma estratégia global para a
migração.
A primeira iniciativa desta nova estratégia parece ter sido
a reunião com o primeiro-ministro espanhol, Pedro Sánchez. “Conversámos sobre
trabalhar com países que estão dispostos a discutir todas as dimensões da
política de migração e o primeiro-ministro espanhol falou sobre a dimensão
externa e eu sobre a dimensão interna. Nesse espírtio, teremos mais
conversações nos próximos dias”, explicou Merkel. Se a ameaça de uma Europa a
várias velocidades pairava no horizonte, agora parece estar a materializar-se.
Questionado sobre o navio humanitário Lifeline, com 234
migrantes a bordo e também impedido pelo governo italino de atracar nos seus
portos, Sánchez limitou-se a defender a necessidade de se encontrar uma solução
europeia comum. Ao contrário do que aconteceu com o Aquarius, Sánchez não
mostrou disponibilidade em acolher o navio nos portos espanhóis. Entretanto, o
navio já atracou em portos malteses, depois de Malta ter voltado atrás com a
sua recusa inicial em o acolher.
Choque de instituições
O conflito em torno da imigração não se limita aos governos
europeus, com o Conselho Europeu e a Comissão Europeia a entrarem em choque
sobre as conclusões da cimeira europeia no final deste mês. Na minicimeira
deste domingo, os líderes europeus presentes não emitiram qualquer documento
com as conclusões do encontro, encorajando a Comissão Europeia a fazê-lo. A
instituição europeia enviou, por email, uma proposta de rascunho com políticas
concretas para os líderes europeus, bem como para os responsáveis do Conselho Europeu,
entre os quais o seu presidente, Donald Tusk, enfurecendo-os.
Em jeito de retaliação, o Conselho entregou aos 28 governos
uma proposta de rascunho das conclusões da cimeira, na qual retira todas as
propostas da comissão exceto uma: “O Conselho Europeu congratula-se com o
acordo alcançado sobre o financiamento do Mecanismo de Refugiados na Turquia e
o Fundo Fiduciário da UE para a África”. “O texto do Conselho é simplesmente
realista, enquanto o da Comissão avança mais uma vez com uma lista de desejos e
nada mais”, disse um diplomata, que participou na minicimeira, ao Politico. Os
responsáveis do conselho, explica o Político, viram a movimentação da comissão
como uma tentativa de ultrapassar o próprio conselho, criando atritos entre as
duas instituições.
Coligação em risco
Merkel saiu da minicimeira sem acordo e ainda mais
fragilizada. Os três partidos que sustentam o governo de Merkel, CDU, SPD e
CSU, iniciaram ontem negociações para sanarem as divergências sobre a política
migratória, com a CSU da Baviera, partido-gémeo da CDU e liderado pelo ministro
do Interior, Horst Seehofer, a assumir-se como o principal obstáculo à
manutenção da atual política de portas abertas aos refugiados. Seehofer quer
impedir a entrada de mais migrantes e refugiados e acelerar as deportações para
os seus países de origem, enquanto Merkel recusa medidas unilaterais. Por sua
vez, o SPD rejeita assumir o papel de mediador. “O SPD não pode ser o mediador
entre a CDU e a CSU, que têm de resolver as suas diferenças, mas o compromisso
a que chegarem tem de ser discutido connosco”, disse Andrea Nahles, líder do
SPD.
Immigration Backlash Erodes Merkel’s
Power in Conservative Stronghold
A Bavarian uprising within German leader’s coalition could
topple the government if EU summit fails to ease refugee crisis
Dorfen, in the German state of Bavaria. LOUISA MARIE SUMMER
FOR
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Bojan Pancevski
June 26, 2018 12:07 p.m. ET
DORFEN, Germany—When Angela Merkel opened Germany’s borders
to thousands of asylum seekers in the late summer of 2015, people in the
southernmost state of Bavaria rushed to help in such numbers that authorities
had to briefly turn back offers of clothing and food.
Today, after the thousands became more than a million and as
immigration redraws Europe’s political landscape, Bavaria has become the
springboard for an insurgency that is threatening the German chancellor’s job.
Ms. Merkel is under fire from her conservative allies in
Bavaria, who are part of her government and control the Interior Ministry in
Berlin. They have given the chancellor until this weekend to strike an unlikely
European deal that puts a lid on immigration or closes the border to certain
immigrants. Failure could bring about a collapse of her fragile coalition.
It is a remarkable setback for Ms. Merkel, a politician once
viewed by many in Europe as the continent’s anchor of stability and a leader of
the liberal West. At an informal meeting last Sunday, Ms. Merkel failed to
persuade her EU counterparts to take back immigrants who had made their way to
Germany after already applying for asylum elsewhere. Now she is left with one
last chance to extract an agreement at an EU summit on June 28 and 29.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and the chairman of the
Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union parliamentary group
Volker Kauder attend a meeting Tuesday in Berlin.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and the chairman of the
Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union parliamentary group
Volker Kauder attend a meeting Tuesday in Berlin. PHOTO: OMER
MESSINGER/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
The domestic rebellion, launched two weeks ago by Horst
Seehofer, interior minister and chairman of the Christian Social Union, the
Bavarian sister party to Ms. Merkel’s larger Christian Democratic Union, came
as a shock in Berlin, but it had been brewing for months in Germany’s affluent
and traditionalist southern state.
Fueled by discontent over Ms. Merkel’s liberal policies, the
antiestablishment Alternative for Germany, or AfD has been making inroads into
CSU heartlands, raising the political temperature and forcing the conservatives
to tilt to the right. The arrival of over 1.4 million asylum seekers in Germany
since 2015 has stoked fears of a swift demographic change, coupled with anxiety
over reports of rising migrant crime and revolt over the huge costs of managing
the crisis which has been estimated to over €20 billion a year.
Three years on, many of the migrants still live in temporary
housing scattered across the country, affecting communities even in remote
rural areas. Larger cities have seen the demographic mix in some neighborhoods
change almost beyond recognition.
Most of the newcomers have been unable to enter the highly
regulated job market, mainly for lack of language and other skills required in
one of the world’s most advanced economies.
These tensions were on full display last week in this
picture-perfect Bavarian town of 15,000, where African and Middle Eastern
migrants can be seen loitering around the railway station and in parks, out of
work and often struggling to get a place in German courses.
The AfD had hired the Dorfen Inn, a beer hall facing onto
the medieval marketplace, for an evening of discussions about ending Ms.
Merkel’s liberal refugee policy. With both critics and supporters of the
chancellor in attendance, the communal tables dotted with beer jugs and
schnitzel plates soon turned into a microcosm of the debates that are tearing
at the country’s political fabric.
“I think we need to change the current immigration policy
and quick,” said Reinhold Mayer, a retired aircraft engineer and longstanding
CSU supporter who said he was considering switching to the AfD. Ms. Merkel’s
policies, he said, had been the biggest factor in the rise of far-right
populism from Eastern Europe to Austria and Italy.
Jakob Niemeyer, a 31-year-old carpenter from a neighboring village,
disagreed loudly. “The AfD is a fascist party,” he thundered, “and we will not
tolerate fascism here.”
Such scenes have been playing across Bavaria for months. And
as an October election in the state approaches, they have been causing alarm in
Munich, the ornate capital of a state the CSU has been ruling almost
uninterruptedly since the end of World War II.
Opinion polls show the AfD is set to rob the CSU of its
absolute majority at the poll and become its first viable right-wing challenger
in postwar history.
Horst Seehofer, chairman of the Christian Social Union, in
Munich on June 18.
Horst Seehofer, chairman of the Christian Social Union, in
Munich on June 18. PHOTO: ALEXANDER POHL/NURPHOTO/ZUMA PRESS
With the CSU growing restless and defensive, it just needed
a spark for the simmering dispute among German conservatives over immigration
to catch fire. That spark came two weeks ago, when Ms. Merkel abruptly vetoed a
63-point plan by Mr. Seehofer designed to broadcast a tightening of immigration
law to his home base in the south.
After days of backstage negotiations failed to achieve a
compromise, Mr. Seehofer said he would give the chancellor a fortnight to
clinch a European deal to end the flow of newcomers into the continent. Should
she fail, he would implement his plan, which Ms. Merkel said she would treat as
insubordination.
Since ousting the CSU would end the government’s
parliamentary majority, a clash would almost certainly mean the collapse of Ms.
Merkel’s fourth government just 100 days after it started.
Back in Dorfen, Martin Sichert is the walking embodiment of
Mr. Seehofer’s worst fears. A longstanding CSU supporter, he has now become the
AfD’s leader in Bavaria.
Mr. Sichert reaped thunderous applause from the beer-hall
audience when he told them his party rejected multiculturalism because the
success of a country depended on the mentality of its people, something he
wanted to preserve from migrant influence.
“People here stand at a red light even when there are no
cars around,” Mr. Sichert told supporters. “It is this mentality that provides
for top quality in manufacturing and governance.”
In an interview, Mr. Sichert said that he had always voted
conservative, until Ms. Merkel made it impossible for him to support her
policies. “More and more people feel the same. The AfD was born out of the CSU,
because CSU ceased to be the party of the people,” Mr. Sichert said.
Many in the top echelons of the CSU—and in some quarters of
Ms. Merkel’s CDU—share his analysis.
One of those mainstream conservatives who fear too generous
an immigration policy is feeding extremist ideas is Edmund Stoiber, a former
state premier of Bavaria and one-time CDU-CSU candidate for chancellor.
The conflict over immigration in Europe, he said, “is the
biggest challenge to liberal democracies and radical forces are swelling
because voters have lost faith in traditional politicians.”
Mr. Stoiber cited the rise of populist movements in countries
affected by mass migration, including Italy, where a populist coalition has
taken power, and Sweden, where a far-right party rooted in neo-Nazism, the
Sweden Democrats, could win a majority at the September elections.
“We are at a crossroads,” he said. “Merkel’s 2015 decision
has caused a deep division in Europe and a realignment of the political
landscape in many European countries…Seehofer wants to improve the control of
migration to restore faith in politics and trust in the legal system. For us at
the CSU it is shocking that the chancellor has turned this into such a
confrontation.”
Police statistics for 2017 showed crime had fallen in
Germany since the peak of the refugee crisis, but that refugees, asylum seekers
and illegal migrants, who represent about 2% of the population, accounted for
14.2% of perpetrators. Reports about isolated offenses by migrants ranging from
rape to murder to aborted and successful terror plots have become a daily
staple of the tabloid press, contributing to a hardening of opinions about
migrants.
By the end of 2017, a full three years after the peak of the
refugee crisis, some 84% of the 700,000 Syrians currently in Germany were
living on benefits, according to recent statistics by the Federal Labor Agency.
More than a quarter of the six million recipients of the basic form of income
support—which comprises free rent, heating, legal representation and a monthly
cash allowance for food and other essentials—were non-EU migrants.
A Kantar Public poll published June 23 showed that 61% of
Germans supported CSU’s proposal to tighten the border regime and 57% wanted to
slow down immigration because they were worried about integration.
The CSU and CDU have been political Siamese twins for most
of the postwar years, contesting national elections as one party and sharing a
parliamentary group. But the bitter row over Ms. Merkel’s migration policy is
sapping their ability to run the country at a time of global turbulence, and
stretching their union to a breaking point.
Founded in the aftermath of World War II, the CSU had among
its guiding principles the fact that it would never let a rival party emerge on
its right. In a state that long ago turned from agricultural backwater to
industrial powerhouse, home to such global conglomerates as BMW AG and Siemens
AG , it sees itself both as robustly conservative and a guarantor of freedom
and the rule of law.
While the chancellor has gradually tightened the rules
governing immigration over the past three years, she has clung to the principle
that no one seeking protection in Germany should be denied a fair hearing.
In Deggendorf, near Munich, where the AfD got a fifth of the
votes at last September’s federal election—more than six points above its
national score—this principle shapes day-to-day life.
An asylum center there hosts hundreds of recent arrivals,
many from Africa, often with no identification papers. Few stand a chance of
gaining asylum in Germany because they are typically judged to be economic
migrants rather than war refugees or political dissidents. Also, many of them
already applied in Italy or elsewhere before arriving here, disqualifying them
for protection in Germany under European law.
On paper, rejected asylum seekers should be swiftly
deported. But most linger on, shielded by bureaucratic inertia, lack of
resources or sympathetic judges.
A 20-year-old man from Sierra Leone who calls himself Mahmud
said he had sailed from Libya on a rubber dinghy along with dozens of other
migrants last summer; they were rescued and brought to a port in Sicily, where
he registered as an asylum seeker.
Dressed in a branded polo shirt and baseball cap, a thick
gold chain resting on his chest, Mahmud said he applied for asylum in Italy,
claiming his life was in danger at home. But he said he didn’t wait for a
decision and instead moved on to Germany because Italy provided no opportunity
for people like him. He is now stuck in limbo, living on benefits at the
shelter but unable to work.
“They are not treating us right here,” he said. “I think it
is the politicians’ fault.”
It is people like Mahmud that Mr. Seehofer and Markus Söder,
Bavaria’s state premier, now want to turn back directly at the border, even
though that would mean erecting new checkpoints to slow down EU crossings that
are now unimpeded, and, say critics, an element of racial profiling to screen
out noncitizens.
Ms. Merkel’s refusal to comply has fueled frustration beyond
the CSU and even beyond Germany.
“The disorderly immigration of 2015 was a fundamental
mistake,” Mr. Söder wrote in an op-ed in the Die Welt daily last week.
“Citizens want a safe Europe, which protects their cultural identity.”
CDU legislators led by Jens Spahn, Ms. Merkel’s health care
minister and one of her harshest in-house critics, have privately and publicly
sided with the CSU.
And in Europe, conservative and far-right politicians from
Austria, Italy and Hungary have joined the chorus of Merkel critics. In
something of a diplomatic affront, Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian Chancellor,
went as far as supporting Mr. Seehofer at a joint press conference in Berlin.
During the event, he described the anti-Merkel alliance in Southeastern Europe
as an “axis of the willing.”
As the CSU closes ranks behind Messrs. Seehofer and Söder,
it is not clear that the party’s challenge to Ms. Merkel is endearing it to
voters. A survey by the Forsa polling group for broadcaster RTL on Monday
showed only 37 and 38% of Bavarian voters were satisfied with the work of Mr.
Seehofer and of the Bavarian premier respectively. Some 43% said they were
positive about the performance of the chancellor.
Likewise, the Kantar Public poll that showed German voters
as a whole supported the CSU’s line on immigration also showed 58% of
respondents wanted Ms. Merkel to remain in power.
Whatever the outcome of the standoff, however, Mr. Sichert
says the main winner is already clear: The AfD and its message.
“Our time has come—the time of upright patriots who fight
for their country. Our ambition is not to get into government, but to put so
much pressure on the conservatives they adopt our migration policy,” Mr.
Sichert said. “And it’s working.”
'We Cannot Be Stopped'
Merkel's Toughest Adversary in Europe
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini: " They can attack us.
They can insult us and threaten us. We cannot be stopped."
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is a populist and a
firebrand, but also a fearless tactician. His hardline approach to migration
threatens not only Angela Merkel's tenure as chancellor, but also the entire
EU.
By Walter Mayr
June 27, 2018 10:38 AM
http://www.spiegel.de/…/italian-interior-minister-salvini-m…
No stage is too small for him -- the man who has become the
focus of European attention. The main thing is that he's in the spotlight.
With his top shirt buttons undone, Italian Interior Minister
Matteo Salvini faces the crowd in the small town of Ivrea, where he is --
officially, at least -- stumping for a mayoral candidate from his party. In
fact, though, he speaks almost exclusively about himself and his role in global
politics.
He is "as tired as a mule" but ready for a fight,
Salvini calls out to his supporters gathered on the piazza. "The time has
come to an end when Italy allows itself to be enslaved." It pays, he says,
to be confident, adding that heads of state and government from other countries
constantly tell him: "You just have to say: 'Stop, we are Italy. We are
tired of being treated like garbage.' And people will be forced to listen to
you; things will change."
It sounds cynical, but it's true. Without Italy, the euro
would have no future, nor, likely, would the European Union. Without Italy,
there can be no solution to the migrant problem and no agreement on the
question that has become decisive for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's
survival: Whether EU member states on the Mediterranean are prepared to take
back asylum applicants who have traveled onward to Germany.
Much of the pressure on Merkel is coming from her own
interior minister, Horst Seehofer, who has given Merkel until the end of June
to find her favored "European solution" to the refugee issue before
he carries out his threat of beginning to turn migrants away at Germany's
border. The German chancellor is concerned that such a move could further
fragment the EU and ultimately lead to the reestablishment of borders within
the bloc.
But if anything, Sunday's refugee summit called by Merkel to
search for a broader solution demonstrated that the process of fragmentation is
quite far along. And Salvini has become emblematic of that process. He has said
that Italy will not take in "one more" refugee and clearly
demonstrated in recent days that he is in no mood to compromise.
Italy First
And in his recent campaign appearance in Ivrea, he didn't
waste a single word on the problems Merkel is currently facing as a result of
his stubbornness. In the future, Salvini only wants to accept proven war
refugees and seeks to quickly deport the half-million illegal migrants
currently living in Italy. "Italy cannot become a tent and barracks
settlement," he said in Ivrea. "We cannot dump half of Africa on
Italian soil."
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini: " They can
attack us. They can insult us and threaten us. We cannot be stopped."
AP
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini: " They can
attack us. They can insult us and threaten us. We cannot be stopped."
Italy's new interior minister is a gifted demagogue. He
constantly keeps the pressure on his adversaries and, no matter where he is, he
speaks as if he were on the campaign trail and not as a statesman -- as the
deputy prime minister of a country of 60 million in the heart of Europe. Since
the parliamentary elections on March 4, Salvini has propelled his party, the
right-wing nationalist Lega, to first place in the polls, having gained 12
percentage points in the interim. He has done so by spewing vitriol against
immigrants, Roma and politicians like former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who
"crawled around on their knees before Merkel and Macron."
Salvini has thus far dictated the new government's agenda,
even though his party is ostensibly the junior partner. Prime Minister Giuseppe
Conte, who does not belong to a party, and election victor Luigi Di Maio of the
Five Star Movement (M5S) are simply not able to keep up with the pace and tone
of the Lega boss. Survey numbers seem to confirm that Salvini is not mistaken
in his approach: Fully 72 percent of Italians support Salvini's stance on the
refugee question. He has been adamant in his refusal to allow ships that have
saved migrants from the Mediterranean to land at Italian ports and insisted
that attention be shifted to the needs of Italians. "Prima gli
Italiani," is his motto. Italians first.
On the European stage, Salvini has quickly risen to become
Merkel's most powerful adversary. Observed from a distance, he is a populist
who uses xenophobic positions and arch-conservative values to attract voters
who have become receptive to simplistic political messages following years of
economic crisis. From closer up, it becomes clear that Salvini is primarily
that which many of his voters want to be themselves: self-confident, pugnacious
and fearless.
Which is an accurate description of his bearing last
Thursday, sitting behind his desk on the second floor of the Palazzo del
Viminale in Rome, which is home to both the Interior Ministry and the prime
minister's office. "In the coming months, it will be decided if Europe
still has a future in its current form or whether the whole thing has become
futile," he says. It sounds more like a threat than like an expression of
hopefulness.
No Taboos
Despite having worked 18-hour days for months, Salvini
appears surprisingly vigorous from up close. He looks at his interviewer
directly in the eyes, doesn't dodge any questions and parses the world in
accordance with his ally-enemy worldview. "Questi signori," these gentlemen,
he says when talking about his adversaries. Or just "they," without
being more specific.
"They can attack us. They can insult us and threaten
us. We cannot be stopped."
Salvini knows no taboos. On June 19, he demanded the
creation of a register of all Roma and Sinti living in Italy -- after years
spent promising to bulldoze illegal Roma settlements. The country is thought to
be home to some 140,000 Roma and Sinti, and Salvini wants to get rid of all of
them who are not citizens of the EU. "Unfortunately," he said,
"we have to keep the ones who are Italian."
The interior minister's hate, though, is also a means of
distracting voters from the fact that the central promises made by the Lega-M5S
governing coalition cannot be fulfilled: low taxes, minimum income for the
needy, and a reversal of the pension reform passed in 2011 to help stave off
the country's debt crisis. Italy is currently carrying more than 2.3 trillion
euros in sovereign debt, which has led Salvini to focus on policies that cost
no money, but which are supported by the populace. He has turned his ire
against criminal Tunisians and the NGOs that fish migrants out of the sea off
the coast of Libya. Indeed, his consistent critique of the influx of refugees
closely mirrors the concerns held by many everyday Italians.
It is difficult to describe Rome's new strongman using
conventional paradigms. He insists that viewing politics as a competition
between the left and the right is no longer valid. He likewise has little use
for proven alliances such as the EU and NATO. The Lega, which Salvini has led
since 2013, maintains a partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin's
party United Russia, demands an end to EU sanctions against the country and
admires U.S. President Donald Trump, whose victory he predicted early on. He is
also part of the European Parliament party group to which French right-winger
Marine Le Pen also belongs.
But who is this politician who is mounting a challenge to
Europe at an extremely critical moment and who could ultimately cost Merkel the
Chancellery?
Salvini was born in Milan in 1973 to a middle-class family
and went to a high school that focused on ancient languages. He was only 17
when he first became a member of the separatist movement led by Umberto Bossi,
then called Lega Nord. When he was 20, he tried to bridge the gap and
temporarily became the leader of a list of "Communists from the Po
Valley." He wore a Che Guevara pin and the logo of his list included the
hammer and sickle. He was, in short, both left and right -- a precursor to his
current partnership 20 years later with left-wing populist Beppe Grillo's M5S,
an alliance he has sold to Italian voters as the beginning of a
"post-ideological" era, the start of the "Third Republic."
As a young politician in Milan, Salvini inspected illegal
Roma settlements, collected signatures in opposition to the construction of a
mosque, and stood in front of the opera house distributing a book by star
reporter Oriana Fallaci, in which she wrote that anyone who believes there is such
a thing as "moderate Islam" is naïve. Even then, he didn't beat
around the bush: "We wouldn't be too pleased if, 20 years from now, all
the children in our schools were named Mustafa."
'Discounting Him Would Be a Mistake'
Shortly after graduating from high school, Salvini was
elected to the Milan city council. "An exceptionally intelligent person,
which means that he must be aware of the nonsense he spews. Back then, I liked
him," says Pierfrancesco Majorino, who is today a left-wing member of the
city council and responsible for social issues. He is also a supporter of
migration and integration, making him a natural enemy of the interior minister.
Majorino has known Salvini for a quarter century. "Simply discounting him
as an unhinged lout would be a mistake. He knows exactly what he is
doing."
Even back then, Salvini's politics were defined by his
contrarianism. Early on, he was opposed to Italy and the exploitative
centralized state that robbed the hard-working northern Italians of the fruits
of their labor. Later, his ire was reserved for the EU and its representatives
in Brussels who were, he said, seeking to establish a "Fourth Reich."
He also railed against international finance, against global Islam and against
migrants.
In parallel with the growth of his own importance, Salvini's
targets also became larger. He used to focus on lazy southern Italians:
"Do you smell the stench? Even the dogs are running away. The Neapolitans
are coming." Now, though, he is targeting the rest of the world on behalf
of all Italians.
Can he still remember being photographed wearing a
pro-Germany T-shirt in 2006 on the day of the World Cup semi-final between
Italy and Germany to express his rejection of the Italian state? Yes, Salvini
responds, but those times are over. What about the time he refused to shake the
hand of Italian President Azeglio Ciampi in Milan with the words "no
thanks old man, I don't feel that you are my representative," because as a
proud Lombard, he wanted nothing to do with Rome? And that he was sentenced to
30 days behind bars for throwing eggs at then-Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema?
He remembers all of it, but no longer wants to talk about
it. "With Salvini, it's a bit like Picasso: He also had his rose period,
his blue period and his Cubist period. Matteo has been a federalist, a communist,
a separatist and now he is a nationalist," says a long-time companion. But
more important than his ideological roots, he says, is Salvini's overarching
goal: "He wants soon to become prime minister."
A 'Criminally Controlled Invasion'
The result being that these days, one can find Salvini --
whose trademark used to be the sweatshirt he wore everywhere -- sitting at the
front of parliament in a suit and tie. Though if he gets bored, as he did
during a recent speech by Prime Minister Conte, he'll get up and leave. He
hasn't lost his bluntness, however, which became clear from his recent curt
statement as to why he would not allow the refugee ship Aquarius to dock in an
Italian port. He doesn't want to provide any support to the "criminally
controlled invasion" of his country, he said.
An Italian navy vessel carries migrants rescued on by the
ship Acquarius after Italy refused to let them come ashore in the country.
Getty Images
An Italian navy vessel carries migrants rescued on by the
ship Acquarius after Italy refused to let them come ashore in the country.
Matteo Renzi, the former prime minister who is now merely a
senator, sits in the fifth row from the back, drumming his fingers nervously on
the desk in front of him. It's almost as though he simply can't believe that
Italy, which he had tried to return to Europe's center stage, is now being
governed by such people. Renzi failed because he could hardly control his own
party. Salvini doesn't have that problem. He has the full support of his party
and can even count on the backing of the Nigerian-Italian Senator Toni Iwobi --
a black member of the xenophobic Lega.
One shouldn't harbor any illusions about Salvini. On one of
his websites, he includes an apt quote from Clint Eastwood in the 1986 film
"Heartbreak Ridge": "I'm mean, nasty and tired. I eat concertina
wire and piss napalm and I can put a round in a flea's ass at 200 meters."
Back in 2015, Salvini told DER SPIEGEL that he had no
intention of showing much consideration for German sensitivities. "The
euro is a weapon of war," he said. "Wars can be fought with bombs or
with currencies. This war was started by the Germans, because the euro benefits
you and nobody else."
It seems unlikely that Salvini, now that he is deputy prime
minister, will show much consideration for Angela Merkel's needs. He puts it
like this: "To be honest, our political views -- and not just on the
refugee question -- are quite far apart." Italian Interior Minister
Salvini
'Within a Year, We'll See if a United Europe Still Exists'
Italian Interior Minister Matteo
Salvini wants to prevent any more migrants from coming to Italy and is
skeptical of Chancellor Angela Merkel's efforts to come up with a joint
European solution. DER SPIEGEL spoke with him in Rome.
Interview Conducted By Walter Mayr
June 27, 2018 11:03 AM
DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Minister, Chancellor Angela Merkel would
like to return asylum-seekers who were registered in Italy, but who traveled
onward to Germany, back to Italy. Is that okay with you?
Salvini: Ms. Merkel said that Italy should not be left
alone. Now, the consequences must be drawn. We are in second place behind
Germany when it comes to the number of refugees we have accepted. We have
accumulated more than 140,000 asylum cases, we cannot take on a single
additional case. On the contrary, we'd like to hand over a few.
DER SPIEGEL: With that position, you may be contributing to
the end of Merkel's tenure as chancellor.
Salvini: We need reliable partners in Germany. Personally, I
don't want to witness a crisis there or see the government fall. Even if our
political views -- and not just on the refugee question -- are quite far apart.
The same is true on economic policy, banking reform and the German foreign
trade surplus.
DER SPIEGEL: Do you have a direct line of communication with
the chancellor?
Salvini: No, I haven't yet had that honor. I speak with
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
DER SPIEGEL: You have spoken of your agreement with Seehofer
and with your counterpart from Austria. Yet both would like to send refugees
back to Italy.
Salvini: That's true. Both speak of protecting the borders
and of rejecting those who have no right to asylum. But our common goal isn't
just that of imposing a distribution of refugees on Brussels, but especially
that of protecting the EU's external borders. A system like the one with Turkey
in the southeast should be put in place in southern Europe too.
DER SPIEGEL: Your agreement with the German interior
minister, in other words, is limited to the protection of the external borders.
What about his desire to send back refugees to Italy?
Salvini: We don't need anyone coming to us. We need people
to leave our country.
DER SPIEGEL: Have you spoken about that with Mr. Seehofer?
Salvini: No, but Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has the
mandate to declare that Italy's problem is more that we have an overabundance
-- we have no need for returns. On that issue, our position will be completely
clear.
DER SPIEGEL: Who in the Italian government will decide the
country's position at the EU summit in Brussels at the end of June?
Salvini: Prime Minister Conte.
DER SPIEGEL: Are you serious?
Salvini: Yes. Luigi Di Maio and I are in complete agreement
with him. He has the mandate to say "yes" or "no" in
Brussels, to participate or to stand up and leave.
DER SPIEGEL: Yet everybody says that you are the most
important member of the government.
Salvini: You are overestimating me. We shouldn't exaggerate.
DER SPIEGEL: What will the Italian government's position be
on the refugee issue?
Salvini: We, the Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry in
addition to the prime minister, have drafted a dossier for the preparatory
meeting on Sunday which Giuseppe Conte has in his possession (Please note: This
interview took place prior to last Sunday's mini-summit on refugees, called by
Angela Merkel). But he is not flying to Brussels with a mission that he must
fulfill. He has free rein -- free rein to say "no" if he sees fit.
DER SPIEGEL: That means the decision remains open?
Salvini: Yes, but contrary to the past, Italy's ultimate
agreement isn't guaranteed from the outset.
DER SPIEGEL: Is there still room for negotiating?
Salvini: We are prepared to negotiate, item by item.
DER SPIEGEL: How does your position on the refugee issue fit
with the French-German drafts, parts of which have already been made public?
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Salvini: Drafts that are written in advance by other
countries and then emailed around do not conform to our way of working. Either
such a thing is done together or not at all. Furthermore, I don't like the
order in which things are addressed. The focus in the draft document is
primarily on the immediate deportation to Italy of those who originally landed
on our coasts. And only then is the future protection of our external borders
addressed. For us, though, the priorities are exactly the other way around.
DER SPIEGEL: What is the core of the conflict?
Salvini: When someone in the EU says the Italians should
first take care of everything and then we'll help, then I say: First you help
and then we can talk about the rest, about distribution of refugees but also
about the banking union, sovereign debt, etc.
DER SPIEGEL: You say that the ships operated by NGOs,
including several from Germany, should disappear from off the coast of Libya?
Salvini: Definitely, yes. They support the migrant
traffickers and boost the incentive to risk a crossing.
DER SPIEGEL: And who should then do the work being done by
the NGOs?
Salvini: The Libyan, Tunisian or Egyptian coast guards.
DER SPIEGEL: Does Italy consider itself to be part of the
"Axis of the Willing?" Would you also be in favor of installing the
first control points in non-EU countries in the Balkans?
Salvini: You mean establishing hotspots not just in North
Africa but also in the Balkans? Yes.
DER SPIEGEL: You recently called French President Emmanuel
Macron "arrogant." Why are you upset with him?
Salvini: The French lectured us on morals, and yet according
to the statistics, they should long since have accepted 9,000 asylum seekers
from Italy. Still today, armed border guards are marching to the border with
Italy, in Ventimiglia. It is their right to do so - if they would just stop
lecturing us.
DER SPIEGEL: It currently looks as though the EU will be
more divided than ever at the upcoming Brussels summit. Does that worry you?
Salvini: In the coming months, it will be decided if Europe
still has a future in its current form or whether the whole thing has become
futile. It's not just about the budget for the next seven years. Next year will
see new European Parliament elections. Within one year, we will see if united
Europe still exists or if it doesn't.
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