Italy spent at least €200,000 in EU funds to escort the Aquarius rescue boat to Valencia in Spain after refusing it permission to disembark more than 600 migrants at its own ports in June.
An analysis of data obtained through a Freedom of Information request revealed the size of the bill racked up by the Italian coastguard, which was called in to provide assistance in the politically-charged operation.
It also indicated that around 90 percent of the budget for the journey was provided by European Commission grants for emergency rescue services.
“Those are without any doubt exorbitant costs,” Vittorio Alessandro, a former Italian coast guard commander, now retired, told EUobserver, “especially since the case was purely political, rather than being motivated by logistical or organisational reasons”.
On 10 June 2018, the Aquarius, a rescue boat operated by French NGO SOS Mediterranee, was refused permission by Italian authorities to dock in any of the southern Italian ports where migrants rescued at sea had been routinely transported to in the past.
The decision was widely interpreted as a show of force towards other EU nations from a new coalition government formed of the populist Five Star Movement and the far-right League, which had been sworn in just a few days earlier.
Launching the hashtag #chiudiamoiporti (“let’s shut down the ports”), Matteo Salvini, League leader and interior minister, wrote on Facebook that “the rest of Europe had been minding its own business” on migration matters for a long time.
“From today Italy says ‘NO’ to the business of illegal immigration,” he said, while calling on Malta to welcome the Aquarius instead.
The Maltese government retorted that the rescue of the migrants had been coordinated by Rome and that it was not its responsibility.
The exchange kicked off a tense international standoff.
While EU countries argued over its final destination, the Aquarius was left stranded in the Mediterranean with some 630 passengers onboard, including 123 unaccompanied minors and seven pregnant women.
After 24 hours of fraught negotiations, Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez eventually announced that the port of Valencia would offer the people safe harbour.
Salvini immediately hailed the decision as a political victory: “629 [sic] migrants headed for Spain, our first goal has been reached,” he said. “Evidently raising our voice paid off,” he added.
However, several international observers, including the United Nations’ Refugee Agency, voiced discomfort over the prospect of putting migrants, many of whom were in dire health conditions, through a 1,400km journey at sea. SOS Mediterranee added that it would be logistically impossible to take all of the passengers to Valencia on its own.
In a bid to ease pressure on the Aquarius, the Italian government decided to transfer hundreds of the rescued migrants to two smaller vessels, the Dattilo and the Orione, which were, respectively, operated by the Italian coast guard and the Italian navy. The Italian ships flanked the Aquarius on its way to Valencia and reached the Spanish port together.
It was a sensible move, but one which skyrocketed the costs of Italian rescue services.