“Giorgia Meloni is a victim of her nationalism and propaganda,” says Italian MEP Sandro Gozi

“Giorgia Meloni is a victim of her nationalism and propaganda”, estimates Saturday September 16 on franceinfo Sandro Gozi, former minister in the Renzi government, Renew Europe MEP. 11,000 exiles have landed on the island of Lampedusa since Monday September 11.

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Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to come and see the situation on site. She also wants the migration issue to be on the agenda of the European Union summit in October. “Now Giorgia Meloni invokes European solidarity” while “was the first to want to suspend cooperation”, denounces Sandro Gozi. He points “failure” of Italy because, according to him “it’s not that of Europe”.

franceinfo: The migratory pressure suffered by Italy is “unsustainable”. These are the words of the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni. Do you agree with her?

Sandro Gozi: It’s an unprecedented crisis, it’s true. There have never been, in a few hours, in a few days, so many migrants and potential asylum seekers arriving on the island of Lampedusa. Lampedusa has 6,000 inhabitants and today it finds itself with 7,000 migrants. But Giorgia Meloni is a victim of her contradictions and her propaganda because she won the elections a year ago, by promising a naval blockade, by promising something unachievable: a wall in the Mediterranean. And since she has been in government, irregular arrivals in Italy have doubled: 67,000 in September 2022, we are at 130,000 this year. So I believe that Giorgia Meloni is a victim of her nationalism and her propaganda.

Can we say that Giogia Meloni failed on immigration?

It is a failure, broken promises and a policy to avoid. Now, Giorgia Meloni invokes European solidarity. She was the first to want to suspend cooperation, suspend the rules. She does not believe in relocating migrants. It is true that other countries, like Germany, have been very, very reluctant and very slow in relocating migrants who arrived in Italy. But it is in complete contradiction because it is not a failure of Europe. The European Commission, the European Parliament, the majority of countries, starting with France, want what the Italians want, namely a European policy, a resumption of control over migratory flows which can only be European. Those who until now have prevented the European solution are Meloni’s allies. Two days ago, she was in Budapest, with Viktor Orbán. [Le Premier ministre hongrois] is the one that has been blocking a European solution for a long time. Poland is the first country not to want to offer solidarity to Italy. This is why I talk about political contradictions and propaganda. It’s obvious. I am completely convinced that migration must be managed only on a European scale.

There are discussions at European level, what we call “the asylum immigration pact.” Indeed, the Italians didn’t want to hear too much about it. Discussions will resume. What can they change very concretely?

We could first of all begin to truly manage the external borders in a common way, with European responsibility. We could optimize budgets, our resources with visas, with trade agreements, to push countries of origin to truly cooperate with us, on migratory flows, to fight against human traffickers. It’s possible, it’s in the asylum and immigration pact. It was approved by the European Parliament. At the moment, we are negotiating between MEPs and ministers and in the Council of Ministers. And we want to achieve this before the 2024 elections. This would truly be a big step forward because, I repeat, if we continue with everyone for themselves on immigration, it will be bigger and bigger problems for everyone. At the moment, we are all losing, due to lack of effective policies and rules for everyone.