Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni on the Lampedusa Crisis

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The following two videos feature remarks made by Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni on the crisis in Lampedusa, which is currently being overwhelmed with an unprecedented flood of culture-enrichers from Africa.

Many thanks to HeHa for the translations, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling.

Video 1: Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini

Video 2: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Video transcript #1 (Matteo Salvini):

00:00   What is happening in Lampedusa and what has happened today, in Strasbourg
00:04   is the failure of a EU ruling in agreement with the Socialists.
00:09   The landings in Lampedusa are the symbol of a EU that does not exist,
00:18   that is distant, that is careless, that is accomplice
00:22   and that leaves the single countries alone in facing their problems.
00:26   I report that when 120 vessels arrive in a matter of few hours,
00:33   it is not a spontaneous event; it clearly is organized, financed and prepared,
00:40   it is an act of war, because if we go on with a 6,000 landings daily rate, this means, for the Italian society,
00:46   a breakdown, because the problem is not only in Lampedusa.
00:50   My sympathy to the Lampedusa community, your colleagues, I imagine,
00:54   will witness the difficulty of a small island in receiving tens of
00:58   thousands of people,
01:00   but the problem is that from Lampedusa they will arrive in Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples,
01:04   Palermo,
01:05   with all the unfortunate consequences.
01:10   Since I do not believe in coincidences, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I don’t believe in coincidences,
01:15   I think it is also something absolutely wanted, organized, planned, financed,
01:22   also to put an inconvenient government in trouble.
01:26   We are facing an exodus organized by criminals.
01:33   It is not a few landings, this is human trafficking organized by criminals.
01:40   And we respond to organized crime with all the means available, none excluded.
 

Video transcript #2 (Giorgia Meloni):

00:00   The migratory pressure that Italy is undergoing since the beginning of this
00:03   year is unsustainable.
00:05   It is the result of a very difficult international situation, which brings
00:09   problems that the African countries already had,
00:11   and a situation of growing instability, particularly in the Sahel area, together.
00:14   A very difficult context, in the midst of coups d’état, natural disasters, fight over grain,
00:18   jihadism,
00:19   which could lead several tens of millions of people to want to leave their own
00:25   country to seek a better future in Europe.
00:27   It is evident, however, that Italy and Europe cannot accept this huge mass of people,
00:32   particularly when the flow of migration is managed by unscrupulous traffickers
00:37   and since it moves along illegal routes.
00:39   The Italian government has worked, since its takeover, to address this problem
00:42   in a structural way,
00:44   proposing the only way that can give the phenomenon a lasting solution.
00:48   While earlier, the whole debate in Europe was focused on how to welcome those
00:52   who arrived illegally
00:53   and on the rules of their redistribution in the 27 EU countries,
00:57   we asked for a total change of paradigm.
00:59   Stopping the traffickers of human beings and mass illegal immigration, upstream,
01:03   focusing on the defense of the external borders and not on the redistribution of
01:07   migrants.
01:08   This change of paradigm is today written in black and white in the conclusions
01:13   of the last European Council.
01:14   And how is it done? As we have always proposed to do, and as it is written in
01:18   our programs,
01:19   with a European mission, even naval if necessary, in agreement with the
01:23   North-African authorities,
01:24   meant to stop the departure of boats, and to ascertain in Africa who has the right or not to asylum;
01:29   by welcoming in Europe only those who actually have the right to be welcomed,
01:33   according to the international conventions.
01:35   And at the same time, working, through serious investments. on the development of
01:39   the African continent,
01:40   so that Africa can live and prosper thanks to its many resources
01:45   and the training of workers who are useful to the European economy, and who can be placed
01:50   into legal and effectively integrable immigration paths.
01:52   This is what we have been working on since day one,
01:56   by convincing Europe, by talking to all the North-African authorities,
02:00   by laying the foundations for solid agreements with the African governments.
02:04   Thanks to this work we have been able to keep, for example,
02:07   the departures from Libya, under control,
02:09   which, until a few months ago, was the real problem of Italy.
02:13   But in the meantime the situation in Tunisia was precipitating;
02:16   a nation that faces a severe economic crisis that inevitably affects us too.
02:21   The Italian government then worked, involving the European Commission,
02:25   on a collaboration agreement between Europe and Tunisia,
02:28   which entails the fight against illegal immigration flows, on one hand,
02:32   and supports Tunisia’s economy on the other.
02:34   Unfortunately, however, while Italy and a part of Europe were working
02:38   in that direction,
02:39   another part of Europe was moving in the opposite direction.
02:42   I think of the daily attempt of some political forces and influential groups
02:47   claiming that Tunisia was an oppressive regime with which no agreement
02:51   could be reached,
02:52   and even declaring that Tunisia wasn’t a port of safety,
02:55   and therefore where it is not possible to repatriate illegal immigrants
02:59   or prevent the departure of migrants from those coasts.
03:03   To this we add the fact that, despite the agreement signed
03:07   by the European Commission with the Tunisian government,
03:09   the agreed 250 million euros have not been transferred to Tunisia, yet.
03:16   This is the picture of the situation that has put Italy in the very difficult
03:20   situation it is in, now.
03:21   Personally, I am still convinced that the strategy of the Italian government is
03:25   the most earnest
03:26   to solve the problem in a structural way,
03:29   but it takes time, especially if that work is hindered by ideological interests.
03:35   However, Italy cannot wait any longer, because in the wait for definitive solutions,
03:41   the pressure has now become unsustainable.
03:44   I therefore announce that, first of all, I wrote to the President of the European Commission
03:48   to ask her to come with me to Lampedusa to personally become aware of
03:53   the severity of the situation we are facing
03:55   and to immediately accelerate the concretization of the agreement with Tunisia
04:00   by transferring the agreed resources.
04:02   President Von der Leyen has always been collaborative and I have no doubt that
04:06   she will be too, this time.
04:07   Secondly, I wrote to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel,
04:11   asking him to include the migration issue in the agenda of the European Council
04:15   of next October.
04:16   My intention in that venue is to reiterate that it is necessary to
04:20   immediately launch a European mission
04:22   to block the departure of the boats.
04:25   Thirdly, the Italian government immediately intends to adopt extraordinary measures
04:30   to deal with the number of landings we have been seeing in recent days on our coasts.
04:34   In the Council of Ministers of next Monday we will modify the detention time limit
04:39   in the detention centers for repatriations for those who arrive in Italy illegally,
04:43   a limit that will be raised to the maximum allowed by the current EU regulations,
04:49   that is 18 months, a term that does not concern asylum seekers,
04:53   for whom today the maximum detention time limit is already 12 months and will not be modified.
04:58   We are already working on the enhancement of the centers for repatriations,
05:02   so that anyone who enters Italy illegally is effectively detained in these facilities
05:07   for all the time necessary to examine their asylum applications, where present,
05:12   and for their actual expulsion, if they are illegals.
05:16   Because years of immigrationist governments have resulted in a situation
05:22   where the accommodations in the detention centers for repatriations have been scandalously scarce.
05:26   And so, in the Council of Ministers of next Monday,
05:29   the Ministry of defense will be instructed to build, as soon as possible, the facilities,
05:33   in such a way that they are sufficient to detain illegal immigrants.
05:39   We will instruct them to build these facilities in places
05:45   with very low population density and easily delimitable and surveillable.
05:48   And so I want to send a clear message to those who want to enter Italy illegally.
05:53   It is not convenient to rely on human traffickers, because they ask you for a lot of money,
05:58   they put you on boats that are often not equipped for that kind of journey,
06:02   and in any case, if you enter Italy illegally, you will be detained and repatriated.
06:07   Our situation does not allow us to do anything different.
06:10   To the Italians, on the other hand, I want to say that we have not changed our mind.
06:13   It will take time, a lot of work, patience, determination, but we have not changed our mind.
06:19   We work every day to keep the commitments we have signed with you in every field,
06:23   including the restoration of legality and the fight against illegal immigration.
 

10 thoughts on “Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni on the Lampedusa Crisis”

  1. This apparent about-face by Meloni begs the question of whether she was always a liar and just revealed her true face once she was safely ensconced in office, or if she was made an offer she couldn’t refuse? And also, like others who have proven to be disappointments once they achieved office, how will those waiting in the wings like Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage, Alice Weidel, or Geert Wilders prove to be should they miraculously assume control?

    • Melloni was made an offer she could not refuse, her and her families lives. Le Pen was made the same offer and like women everywhere, they chose their families lives over their political lives. This is why it is going to take a strong, utterly ruthless man to take charge and do whatever is necessary to steer the ship back on course. That means lots of bodies are going to have to be piled up to accomplish.

  2. a lot of blah blah blah with good words and good talks, but no real actions.

    i understand the point of view of salvini who says it is the fault of organised criminality (actually i think it is so much well orgonised that the big boss could be nevertheless that some president of our many greatest “allies”, but i understand it wouldnt be very wise to name them). i am really disappointed by meloni still claiming that it is the fault of some left parties outside of italy or former italian governments from the left ( there is no such thing as left and right, it is just puppets from both sides, with one big government behind them all ). also this idea to invite the vonderleien seems utterly stupid and unnecessary (the president of eu commission never did anything really, she even lack real political power), not that going meloni herself on the small island changed anything… anyway what is really lacking is action.

    • They didn’t forget. They just think that the ultimate purpose of their armies are to protect them from their citizens when the time comes.

  4. She talks about invasion with no emotion. She should have here military in place with shoot to kill orders. She should have her Navy sinking invading ships. This is no longer a criminal issue, it is far past that point.

    • I know, right?

      It’s a lot easier to get into a spat with Micron since he isn’t even woman enough to catfight back.

      I wouldn’t put much faith in the Italian military or pretty much any European military at this point with the exception of the Poles, and I have strong doubts about the American military. One of my deployments was to a location with multiple European contingents, and while the Italians had by far the best DFAC (dining facility) they otherwise didn’t inspire much confidence in actually waging war.

  5. It is quite evident that the peoples of Europe cannot vote themselves out of this. As such, massive civil conflict, including outright civil war, is now inevitable in basically all western European countries. This will probably begin as soon as the debt ponzi scheme collapses, which could well be early next year.

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