Italy wants to reject refugees to the Mediterranean: a threat as a call for help
An interview
By Patrick Mayer
July 4, 2017, 3:13 pm
***Google Translation
In the refugee crisis Italy is threatened with the rejection of ships with rescued migrants. Italy is the main destination for boat refugees. The threat sounds drastic, but has its reasons. Italy will be abandoned by Europe. These are the background.
"In a few days, 12,000 people have arrived, the situation is difficult, and if it continues in this cycle, it will become unbearable." Sergio Mattarella, the Italian President, recently said. His message: Italy needs support and solidarity in the reception of refugees coming across the Mediterranean. Rome feels left alone.
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Apart from that, Rome considers that ships of aid organizations with rescued migrants should refuse access to Italian ports if they do not travel under the Italian flag.
Our editorial team spoke with the migration and refugee researcher Dr. J. Olaf Kleist from the University of Osnabrück on this new tapering and the consequences.
Q: Mr Kleist, Italy is threatened to refuse to accept refugees from the Mediterranean. Why?
Olaf Kleist: Italy will be left alone in Europe in terms of the arrival of refugees. The relocation program adopted in 2015, according to which the refugees are to be distributed to the different EU countries, does not work.
There is no solidarity in Europe, Italy has to accept many refugees on its own. The present reaction is sure to be a protest.
Q: How then are statements from government leaders to be assessed, according to which the problem together will get to grips?
Olaf Kleist: It is located on the Dublin system. This means that refugees must go through the asylum procedure where they arrive. Italy is much heavier than other countries. However, the Dublin procedure continues to apply.
Q: How is Italy burdened?
Olaf Kleist: The refugees are taken to Italy and accepted there. It is about their accommodation. This has been a problem for Italy for years. The social system is causing problems. This is very communally organized, but the municipalities are often overstrained.
Not infrequently the refugees end up in homelessness. The municipalities are simply not able to equip the arriving people as provided for by European asylum law.
Q: Why has there been no improvement in the refugee crisis since 2015?
Olaf Kleist: It is a matter of solidarity. There are deliberations in the EU to reform the Dublin system. The idea is to distribute refugees by quotas so that there is an equilibrium. But the negotiations are still going on, as long as they will last is unclear.
Until then, the Dublin procedure applies. And after this, refugees are admitted where they are first to come, mostly in Italy or Greece.
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The 2015 relocation program should have been a solution but has not been sufficiently implemented. The targeted redistribution of 160,000 refugees has not even been achieved.
Q: Because the other EU countries do not fulfill their obligations?
Olaf Kleist: It was not a compulsory program but a call. Many countries refuse to accept refugees.
Q: Who in particular?
Olaf Kleist: Hungary and Poland, for example, who, despite criticism, have said they refuse to accept refugees. But other countries do not follow suit. From a European perspective, there is no willingness in many countries.
The EU has now imposed sanctions. But whether these are taking hold and the states are fulfilling their obligations remains to be seen.
Q: Could Italy stop the admission of refugees?
Olaf Kleist: This would be equivalent to a humanitarian disaster and not legal. Refugees seized in the sea must be landed in the nearest port.
This can not be North Africa. There, the human rights conditions are not respected, so the people who are picked up can not be brought there. So the closest country is Italy.
Q: What is the reaction of the Italians?
Olaf Kleist: This is probably about putting pressure on the other EU Member States. If one sees how aid actions are partly criminalized or omitted, some EU states are apparently ready to accept a humanitarian disaster.
Q: Finally: Are we talking about a new "refugee wave"?
Olaf Kleist: No, this is continuous. We will not get to the 2015 refugee numbers. There are also quite different groups of refugees who are on their way here, often driven by the situation in Libya.
Libya has long been a country of immigration, but has now become so uncertain that migrants are trying to get out of the country. However, the figures for Europe are not alarmingly high.
Dr. J. Olaf Kleist works at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies at the University of Osnabrück. Among other things, he is researching refugee and asylum policies in Germany and Europe. In his research, the political scientist refers to reports from NGOs, governments, the data collection of the EU or other organizations.
