In Italy, the governing coalition of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has agreed on a legislative decree that provides for strict conditions for sea rescue of migrants by private aid organizations.
According to the draft, in the event of an infringement, the captain of the ship faces a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 euros;
the shipowner can also be subject to financial sanctions.
Thomas Jansen
Editor in Politics.
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Violation of the so-called Code of Conduct for Non-Governmental Organizations will also result in the ship being detained for two months. If it happens again, it can be confiscated.
The decree, which was passed on Wednesday evening and is due to come into force at the beginning of the year, places the aid organizations' operations under the de facto supervision of the Italian authorities.
Accordingly, the aid organizations must report rescue operations immediately to the Italian sea rescue control center responsible for the region and to the respective flag state of the ship.
According to the decree, they have to provide the Italian authorities with detailed information about the rescue operation.
These then determine the port to which the migrants are to be brought.
Chicane?
Italian authorities assign port in Tuscany
Most recently, the Italian authorities assigned the Sea-Eye 4 to the port of Livorno in Tuscany, which is far away from the deployment site off the Libyan coast. The same thing had happened to the ship Life Support shortly before.
The Regensburg-based aid organization Sea-Eye saw this as harassment to make sea rescue more difficult.
In addition, the decree requires the crew to inform migrants while still on the ship "about the possibility of applying for international protection in the territory of the European Union and, if interested, to collect relevant data and make them available to the authorities".
According to media reports, the right-wing populist League led by Matteo Salvini has pushed for tougher penalties, but has not been able to prevail.
As Interior Minister of the government coalition of Lega and Five Star Movement, Salvini had already tried in 2019 to make sea rescue by private aid organizations more difficult by imposing strict conditions.
The second government under Giuseppe Conte without the participation of the Lega and later the cabinet of Mario Draghi took a more pragmatic course in migration policy, but also tried to reduce the deployment of private aid organizations in the Mediterranean.
Citing a lack of suitability, several rescue ships were arrested by the Italian authorities.
Private sea rescue organizations saw this as a continuation of Salvini's migration policy with more silent means.
The most recent decree also offers a handle for such an approach.
Accordingly, the rescue ships must meet the "requirements for technical and nautical suitability for safe navigation", which are not described in detail.
Private aid organizations sharply criticized the decree.
Sea-Eye said it would not "follow any unlawful codes of conduct or any official instructions that violate international law or the laws of our flag state."
It is "a serious encroachment on the laws and freedom of navigation of our flag state."
In the case of the ship Sea-Eye 4, this is the Federal Republic of Germany.
The decree must therefore be "considered unlawful and rejected by us," Sea-Eye continued.
According to government figures, a good 100,000 migrants made it to Italy via the Mediterranean last year – eleven percent of them on ships belonging to private aid organizations.