Italy-Austria tension over migrant row

VIENNA- Austria would be ready to close its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass within 24 hours if migrant arrivals continue to rise, its Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told Bild on Tuesday.  

“The collaboration between self-styled rescuers and the trafficking mafia must end”, Sobotka added. “We need to prevent these self-styled rescuers from entering into Libyan waters and taking refugees straight to traffickers”. Sobotka said his goal was to “close off the route in the Mediterranean and put an end to trafficking done with boats from North Africa”.

The Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Mario Giro was quick to reply. On Tuesday, he told ANSA that Italy had “no intention of conducting unilateral moves” on the migrant crisis and that advised Vienna to “tone things down”. He also mentioned the upcoming Austrian elections on October 16, in saying that relations between the two countries should not be dictated by “pre-election polemics”. Giro described Brenner’s threat as “surreal [because] there has been no increase in the number of migrants, as themselves have stated various times”.

President of the Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini said “I have already heard the threat and nothing has happened. Politics does not move forward with threats that don’t resolve problems, neither with closures or the military. It’s lamentable.” She explained how “in 2030, Nigeria, who has a population of 200 million today, will be more populated that the USA. It’s improvident to think that you will solve the problem in this way, by closing borders and armed trucks. This measure only creates fear, raises the bar for inhumanity and increases tension and social conflict”. According to Boldrini, the solution is to “work on a system of relocation” not military intervention and border closures which are “against international law”.

Italy has requested more help from its EU partners, citing the present difficulties facing the nation in the migrant crisis. It has proposed taking asylum seekers saved in the southern Mediterranean to ports in other EU states but the idea has been rejected from the countries in question. Over the weekend, the European Commission and EU border agency Frontex approved a code of conduct drafted by Italy for NGO rescue boats coming from Libya. The first rule is the “absolute prohibition” of humanitarian ships entering Libyan waters, which can only be reached “if there is a clear danger for human life at sea”. Other rules provide for the obligation to let police on-board and rescuers to have a technical certification to carry out rescues. If NGOs refuse to sign, they may no longer have access to Italian ports. UNICEF criticised the code on Monday in a statement, describing how the “changes… could inadvertently hinder rescues and cause deaths”.   

zt