For more than two weeks, the NGO rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3 has been carrying 32 refugees aboard the Mediterranean, and Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been doing what he prefers for more than two weeks: demonstrating relentless hardships against migrants. He had to take care of the „five million poor Italians“ and there were „enough illegals by boat, STOP!“ Announced Salvini, also head of the xenophobic Lega, via Twitter.
On the other hand, Luigi de Magistris, mayor of Naples, does not want to accept this stop. „As long as I am mayor, the port of Naples is open,“ he said, calling on the crew of Sea-Watch 3 to head for the southern Italian city. Should Salvini then want to prevent the entrance to the port, he would send out twenty boats to accommodate the refugees. He himself will ride with his official sash on the first boat.
De Magistris is by no means the only mayor who is causing trouble for Salvini these days. In November, the Home Secretary submitted a so-called „Security Decree“, which again tightened the conditions for refugees. In December, Parliament also voted in favor. The so far often granted „humanitarian protection“ will be canceled without replacement – whoever had this status will find himself from one day to the next as an irregular immigrant at the end of the recognition period. And only those who are already recognized as refugees should in future be included in the well-functioning municipal Sprar facilities (protection system for asylum seekers and refugees). Anyone who is still in the recognition process, in the future on the road.
His colleague De Magistris from Naples commented: „I do not have to write such a letter to my administration.“ The municipality of Naples would also ignore the decree on this point – because after all, the Constitution comes first, then ordinary laws. „We reserve the right to interpret ordinary laws in the spirit of the Constitution.“
