Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi
Piantedosi in the Chamber on the shipwreck: “My words on migrants have been misrepresented”
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THE NOTE OF PALAZZO CHIGI Palazzo Chigi expresses deep satisfaction with the words addressed to Italy and to the action of the executive on the issue of migration by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in response to a letter that the Prime Minister had sent at the highest European institutions in the aftermath of the tragedy of Cutro. Indeed, the words of the President of the Commission show full awareness of the need for a concrete and immediate European response on the subject of migration. In fact, President von der Leyen refers to further actions to be coordinated and undertaken at EU level to prevent irregular departures, save lives at sea, fight criminal networks of traffickers and prevent tragedies like Cutro from happening again in the future In particular, the Commission’s willingness to step up cooperation with key partners in North Africa, to set up an enhanced cooperation framework, to work on “search and rescue coordination”, to provide further economic support in border management seafarers, in addition to the desire to keep the migration dossier at the center of the next European Council in March in view of a future agreement on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, correspond perfectly to the requests made by the Italian government to the European institutions in recent months. the Italian government also expresses its satisfaction with the Commission’s awareness e of the effort that Italy has made in recent years in the management of migratory flows and in sea rescue along the main migratory routes of the Central Mediterranean. |
A long speech, that of Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi to the Chamber on the sinking of a boat full of migrants in Calabria. Information that ends with an explanation, the one on the words on which the controversy had ignited: “I referred to the seriousness of the criminal conduct of the smugglers – he recalled – when, with emotion, indignation and anger and in my eyes the heartbreaking image of all those innocent victims, I appealed so that people’s lives no longer end up in the hands of vile criminalsin no way wanting to blame the victims”. And again: “I am deeply sorry that the meaning of my words has been interpreted differently. The sensitivity and principles of human solidarity that have inspired my personal life have been the beacon, in over thirty years at the service of the institutions and citizens, of my every action and decision”
Piantedosi in the Chamber reconstructs the massacre of migrants in Cutro
“Going back to the moments immediately preceding the shipwreck and therefore to the stories of the survivors, the navigation had continued until 03.50, when, about 200 meters from the coast, flashing lights coming from the beach were sighted from the boat and at that point the smugglers, fearing the presence of the forces of order along the coast, make a sharp turn in an attempt to change direction to get away from that stretch of sea”. This is how the minister built the decisive steps that led to the shipwreck of Cutro on 26 February last. “At that juncture, the boat, being very close to the coast and in the middle of high waves, most likely hits the shallow water (a shoal) and due to the breaking of the lower part of the hull, begins to take on water – he clarified the minister.
“Always based on the statements of the survivors, at that point two of the smugglers jumped into the water, while a third was stopped by the migrants, to prevent them from leaving them alone on the stranded boat; in the meantime, many other migrants climbed onto the bridge in search of and the smuggler who remained on board, taking advantage of the moment of chaos, manages to leave the boat on a small dinghy and then get the other two smugglers on board to head towards the coast. a strong wave capsizes the wooden boat and all the migrants fall overboard as the boat is destroyed. The search for a fourth smuggler is underway and developments are not excluded in the next few hours“.
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