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In the Open Arms crisis, a big question plans in the environment both in Italy and in Europe: Why does Matteo Salvini have so much power, as Minister of the Interior, to block the landing of the Open Arms in Lampedusa? Is Salvini de facto above Justice and his own head in the Government, Giuseppe Conte? To understand the current status quo, two perspectives must be kept in mind: on the one hand, the regulations; and on the other, above all, politics.

Who has the last word in the Italian Government to authorize the landing of the Open Arms?

The Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, is hierarchically above his Interior Minister, as he invites to think constitutional logic. But in practice, we must consider that the current -and exhausted- transalpine executive is the result of the strange union between the populist 5 Star Movement (M5E), by Luigi Di Maio, and the ultra-right-wing Liga, by Matteo Salvini. Thus, the liguist leader, even though he is a minority partner of the Italian Government, is morally the one who has accepted, by mutual agreement with Di Maio, that Conte is simply a mediator, arbitrator and at the same time a testament to the union of both formations. Therefore, in relation to the Open Arms, it is Conte who challenges Salvini by opening the port of Lampedusa and not the other way around.

To this is added that the Italian Executive is in full institutional crisis, a scenario that Salvini himself has provoked a week ago ensuring that he wants "early elections immediately". And in this context, Conte is in a weak position . Another reason that results in de facto Salvini having more authority than Conte in this matter is that, as Minister of the Interior the liguist leader is responsible for state security and above him is only the president, Sergio Mattarella . "That of Italy is a particular political system where, for historical reasons, the president of the Council of Ministers does not have great power. For example, Conte cannot dismiss Salvini or any minister, only the president of the Republic. the final gives great autonomy to the ministers ", analyzes Jorge del Palacio , professor of History of Political Thought at the Rey Juan Carlos University.

Can the president of the republic, Sergio Mattarella, intervene in the Open Arms crisis?

As a maximum neutral figure within the Italian State, President Mattarella will try to intervene as little as possible in a case whose management and solution are clearly political. But there is a precedent. In July 2018 Salvini delayed the arrival of a ship from his own Coast Guard, Diciotti, with 67 migrants in the port of Trapani. It was Mattarella's intervention that forced the landing leaving Salvini in evidence.

How is the tug of war of the Open Arms in the government crisis?

In the pulse of the ultra-right-wing leader for the Conte Government to fall, the Open Arms is one more force blow. The Defense and Transportation Ministers (of the M5E) objected to signing Salvini's order to disallow the landing, delving deeper into the fracture. But the M5E would not be interested in aggravating the crisis by encouraging Conte to propose to Mattarella the cessation of Salvini, as this would mean the disappearance of the Executive and early elections, as the Interior Minister wants.

Why can Salvini continue to apply the lock to the ship?

Simply, for a political issue. But we must not forget the complication of the legislative and technical issue. The current anti-immigration "Salvini Law" prevents any unauthorized ship from entering an Italian port. The disobedience of this rule will imply a fine of up to one million euros . However, on Tuesday the Italian Justice has lifted this ad hoc ban for the Open Arms for medical reasons, and with the moral support of the 'Premier' Conte and the Minister of Defense, Elisabetta Trenta.

Expert jurists in the field, as reported by the newspaper 'Corriere della Sera', for example, explain that the blockade, for practical purposes, is purely "political." Precisely the new version already approved of the "Salvini law" implies that the decision just taken by the Italian Justice prevails over any additional prohibition that Salvini wants to sign. The ministers of the orbit of the M5E want to make Salvini pay, in the midst of the Government crisis, his rigid vision of migration in the Central Mediterranean. So far everything in order to understand why the Open Arms has entered the Italian waters.

Another issue is the entrance to the port of Lampedusa, management that depends on the Delegation of the Government of Agrigento (Sicily), thus, under the Ministry of Interior of Salvini. Even in case of a health emergency, it will be the Ministry of Interior who decides whether or not the ship can dock at Lampedusa. Another issue, assuming all responsibilities in this regard as the Sea Watch did at the end of June, is that the Open Arms also decides to enter the Sicilian port. Which would be the nth photographic defeat for Matteo Salvini.

Have there been other cases?

Since governing in a coalition executive formed on June 1, 2018, Salvini has made an anti-immigration policy flag bearing the emblem of the "closed ports" philosophy, to the point that, on Thursday, Conte recriminated his "obsession" for the subject . "I am happy with my obsession," the Deputy Prime Minister boasted, ensuring that in a year he has made migrant arrivals in Italy "down 80%." Incidents such as Open Arms have been repeated throughout this time. It happened in June 2018 with Aquarius, from the French NGO SOS Méditerranée, which Salvini denied port in Italy and ended up disembarking in Valencia the 630 rescued people he had on board. Also that month Salvini asked Malta to take over an NGO Lifeline ship that had collected 230 migrants. Its occupants were later relocated to several European countries. Later, in July of that year, he rejected the 450 migrants aboard a barge that had left the Libyan coast and were rescued by an Italian patrol boat and a Frontex ship and did not accept their landing until there was no compromise from several European countries to welcome them.

What has been the role of the European Union in the crisis?

Six European countries - France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Spain - were on Thursday willing to welcome migrants from the Open Arms after maintaining contacts through the European Commission. However, until the landing takes place, Brussels has warned that it cannot implement the distribution mechanism. Beyond the specific cases, it is increasingly evident that the European Union needs a distribution mechanism that works automatically for all the bailouts carried out by NGOs in the Mediterranean, once Brussels has completely abandoned this activity. According to a report by Yasha Maccanico for Statewatch, a European network of lawyers, academics, journalists, researchers and activists, published last April rescue operations have been borne by NGOs since 2015, "when the EU and Italy intentionally decided that letting people die at sea was useful in deterring exits "towards European coasts.

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