Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has slammed an EU offer to give members states €6,000 for each migrant they rescue as “charity,” claiming the bloc simply misses the target of what is actually needed.
As part of efforts to assume a “truly shared regional responsibility” for the ongoing migrant crisis, the EU’s executive said on Tuesday that the offer would be valid for those member states willing to take in migrants disembarking from rescue boats.
But Salvini swiftly rejected the proposal, saying it is far from enough.
“If they want to give money to someone else they can do so. Italy doesn’t need charity,” he said as cited by the country’s ANSA news agency.
“Italy is not asking for charity handouts. Over time, every asylum seeker costs between €40,000 and €50,000.”
The plan comes after a nine-hour summit between EU leaders last month saw the hammering out of a solution which would see EU members propping up so-called controlled centers on a volunteer basis. The secured centers would host migrants while their asylum application is processed.
The plans, however, were immediately shot down by Italy, France, Austria and Germany who said they have no intention of opening the facilities on their soils.
Asked if Austria would open such a center, Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz said at the time: “Of course not … we are not a first-arrival country, unless people jump with parachutes.”
The proposal was the latest attempt to relieve southern Mediterranean countries, namely Italy and Greece, of some of the burden of the migrant crisis. The countries have, for more than three years, taken in the largest amount of migrants because of their proximity to north Africa, from where a large proportion arrive.