\u201cI understand Spain\u2019s frustration over its failed migration policy, but we have a duty to protect Italy\u2019s borders, which, incidentally, also comprise 7,000 kilometres of European borders that extend into other Member States and are therefore the borders of the entire Union. We have always stood in solidarity with Spain; we are friends with the Spanish people, but their policy on this matter is not perfect, and we have taken our steps following a careful assessment by the Ministry of the Interior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Antonio Tajani, Minister of Foreign Affairs, has dismissed the accusations against the Italian government that continue to be levelled by Spain. He also rejects the criticism levelled by Madrid\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs, who, following S\u00e1nchez, has pointed the finger at Italy and stated in writing that our country \u2018is not up to the task\u2019 and has adopted an \u2018irresponsible\u2019 stance.<\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares accuses the Italian government of being unable to manage the recurring crises on Lampedusa, in contrast to its prompt response to the events in Ceuta. Spanish Prime Minister S\u00e1nchez has described us as superficial and in breach of the European Treaties. How do you reply? Incidentally, we are the only European country to have suspended the free movement of people from Spain: the others have not done so, including Denmark \u2013 which shares our concerns \u2013 and France, which shares thousands of kilometres of border with Spain. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cEveryone makes their own judgements; we have based ours on objective evidence, analysed by the relevant institutional committees. And what will become of the 5,000 sub-Saharan migrants in Ceuta who cannot be sent back to Morocco? Where will they go? It is no coincidence that Denmark\u2019s socialist government was the first to share our concerns, alongside many other EU Member States. What happened in Ceuta is not a minor issue; it poses a risk to the entire Union, and it is our right to call for additional measures, clarifications and preventive measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur and do not undermine the social fabric of other EU Member States.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Spanish government, twice as many undocumented migrants arrive in Italy as in Spain, and so your position is dictated solely by electoral expediency.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI disagree on this point too: firstly, with the figures they cite, which are out of date, predating 2021; the actual figures are different. Here, we have seen a halving of irregular arrivals, thanks in part to a foreign policy on the migration issue under the Meloni government that has been more than responsible, starting with the effects of the Mattei Plan, which is systemic and is bearing fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet other analyses suggest that Spain\u2019s migration policies, including the regularisation of 500,000 foreign nationals already integrated into the country\u2019s economy, are working and are having an impact on GDP that is reflected in the figures for an economy which, in terms of wages and productivity, is far ahead of Italy\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSpain is regularising the status of 500,000 undocumented migrants, and is doing so without having consulted any of its European partners on this decision, and that is not right. Now we\u2019re even hearing that there are a million applications for regularisation \u2013 so who is preventing these people from moving freely within the Schengen area?\u201d<\/p>\n When Merkel governed, she welcomed more than a million Syrians and Afghans, who have since been integrated into the German economy, without seeking permission from other European countries. She made a political decision.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAnd whilst we do not agree with that view in this case, those one million foreigners were already in Germany; it was a completely different situation from Ceuta. After all, there are precedents: we have already suspended the Schengen Agreement with Slovenia and nobody objected; as far as we are concerned, there is no policy of an absolute right to emigrate. Moreover, even the Spanish EPP is highly critical of S\u00e1nchez\u2019s decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n The Italian left accuses you of making an electoral move, of changing the border rules simply to protect yourselves from Vannacci.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAs far as we\u2019re concerned, Vannacci is irrelevant; we don\u2019t make decisions based on what Vannacci does. And S\u00e1nchez isn\u2019t the saviour of the world; everyone has the right and duty to make the decisions they deem appropriate, whilst respecting European rules, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n What do you think of what Conte said about Ukraine?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI would like to understand what the PD and Schlein think, given that their silence over the past day regarding Conte\u2019s remarks has been deafening: these are statements by a former prime minister that speak for themselves. It seems to me that the only one who is truly following Vannacci\u2019s pro-Russian stance is Conte, and I consider this to be rather serious. I would like to understand how they intend to govern, and what their policy stance is.\u201d<\/p>\n What are your plans regarding the Safe programme and military expenditure funded by the European Union?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cItaly has reserved EUR 14.9 billion; it will now be up to the Italian government, in consultation with Parliament, to decide how much of this we will use. The expenditure has already been budgeted for by the Ministry of Defence; the SAFE programme is simply a way of financing it at lower interest rates. What is certain is that this is not \u2018money to wage war\u2019, as the opposition claims, but quite the opposite: it is to prevent war, above all to ensure Italy\u2019s security and protect it from potential conflicts sparked by others on Europe\u2019s borders. Because, let us be clear, without security, there can be no freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI understand Spain\u2019s frustration over its failed migration policy, but we have a duty to protect Italy\u2019s borders, which, incidentally, also comprise 7,000 kilometres of European borders that extend into other Member States and are therefore the borders of the entire Union. We have always stood in solidarity with Spain; we are friends with the […]","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":201402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[28,404],"class_list":["post-201456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviste","tag-ministro","tag-sicurezza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201458,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201456\/revisions\/201458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}