Nowhere is this more the case than Europe’s perpetual migration headache. In Berlin, Paris, and Brussels, the talk about illegal immigration is about finding a unified European solution that is as durable as it is humane. In Rome, the discussion is far more polarising. The question is less about finding solutions favourable to the European Union as it is about finding a way to send a lightning bolt through the EU’s stony exterior in order to get its attention.

For most politicians in the West, forcing dozens of poor, tired, and desperate migrants to stay on a rescue ship off the coast of Sicily until the EU agrees to adopt them would be a career suicide. Decency, virtue, charity, and morality are supposed to be what Europe is all about. When people running from war, torture, or political persecution risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean, the Europeans are expected to come to the beaches with outstretched hands. To not assist the tens of thousands of hungry people fleeing Africa, the Middle East, and Asia – or worse, to block these vulnerable men, women, and children from landing on European shores – is to violate the theory that Europe is a universal beacon for life, liberty, democracy, and opportunity.

Italy, however, is a different story. As illustrated in the March parliamentary elections, when nearly half of Italian voters cast their ballots for parties that ran on demonstration of the EU as an oppressor of Italian ambition, it’s not a particularly appealing prospect for a politician to be a pan—European, pro-refugee establishmentarian. The country’s politics in 2018 are not only anti-establishment, but anti-migrant and anti-asylum. The Italian people are fed up with their country being asked to manage Europe’s migration crisis on the one hand while being criticized for insufficient loyalty to the EU on the other. That much was clear long ago, even before the League and the Five Star Movement upended the Italian political mainstream last winter and formed a government without help from Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Renzi. 

But Italy’s populist currents have taken on new relevance this week, when the Conte government not only refused entry to migrants on board the Diciotti for over a week, but was rewarded politically for keeping anti-immigration at the top of its agenda (on August 25, after a week at sea and with prosecutors having commenced an investigation of Salvini’s conduct, the Interior Ministry finally allowed the ship’s occupants to walk off the boat). Giuseppe Conte’s antics during EU meetings, Matteo Salvini’s ideological anti-immigration policies, and Di Maio’s financial threats towards Brussels are being compensated by the Italian public with even higher approval ratings. According to an Ipsos poll conducted in late July, 61 per cent of Italians have a positive outlook on the Conte’s government’s performance. The prime minister himself has a 68 per cent approval rating, while Salvini and Di Maio are at 60 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.

The political gods are watching Matteo Salvini like no other politician in Europe. By piggybacking on migration, Salvini has miraculously transitioned his League party from a fringe, northern secessionist movement into a national political force whose poll numbers only grow with every rescue ship blocked from Italy’s ports. The issue continues to be a winner for the populists, and as long as that development holds, Rome has even less of a reason to become more compassionate. Even possible legal jeopardy for Matteo Salvini over the Diciotti can’t compete.

Source: https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/08/italys-anti-immigration-rhetoric-is-paying-off-for-the-populists/

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On June 2, Salvini joined Conte and the rest of the new cabinet to view Italy’s annual Republic Day parade. Afterwards, Salvini warned migrants at a rally in northern Italy: “The free ride is over. It’s time to pack your bags.”

A report in al Jazeera on June 4 noted that while visiting Pozzallo — a town on the south coast of Sicily that is one of the main arrival points for refugees — Salvini said that Sicily will no longer be what he described as “Europe’s refugee camp.”

A recent report in Britain’s Express described the expected plans of Italy’s new government as an act of defiance against the European Union, whose policies require migrants to be dealt with by the first country where they arrive.

In addition to their commitment to deport as many as 500,000 migrants, the governing coalition’s manifesto also calls for the renegotiation of various EU treaties, including the Stability and Growth Pact, which sets a tough budget deficit limit of three percent of each nation’s GDP.

The parties to which the new cabinet ministers belong also seek the cancellation of €250 billion in Italian government debt by the European Central Bank, as well as a revision of Italy’s contribution to the EU budget.

The Express cited Salvini’s statement that the deportation of illegal migrants was “a priority,” and his pledge to rid the country of what he called “delinquents.”

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Source: https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/29206-italys-new-populist-government-pledges-to-deport-500-000-migrants

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The Lega party’s leader Matteo Salvini (C), accompanied by party colleagues Gian Marco Centinaio (L) and Giancarlo Giorgetti (R), addresses the media after a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace, Rome, Italy, 21 May 2018. [EPA-EFE]

All eyes are on Italy as the far-right League and rebellious Five Star Movement close in on power, ringing alarm bells in Brussels as the country inches towards becoming the first EU founding member to have a Eurosceptic government.

Italy has seen a surge of populist and anti-establishment sentiment as the country struggles to emerge from a decade-long economic crisis amid sky-high youth unemployment and hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving on its shores.

Many Italians feel their country has been abandoned to deal with the migrants and have become disenchanted by the European Union as it is today.

At Trieste trilateral, Italy laments migrant burden

In the margins of the Western Balkans summit in Trieste, Italy’s Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni criticised fellow EU member states on Wednesday (12 July) for leaving his country to grapple with the migrant crisis, despite pledges made by France and Germany.

League senator and economist Alberto Bagnai, the inspiration behind leader Matteo Salvini’s euroscepticism, summed up the disillusionment with Europe by telling foreign reporters of the first thing he did after being elected to the Senate in March.

“I immediately went to thank (former prime minister) Mario Monti, without whom I would probably never have been elected,” he said.

Former European Commissioner Monti was named prime minister after Silvio Berlusconi’s government fell in 2011 at the height of the economic crisis and he imposed stinging austerity measures to restore market confidence, including a pension reform that both the League and Five Star want to abolish.

Lorenzo De Sio, Professor of Political Science at Luiss University in Rome, told AFP their research showed that “70% of M5S voters want to stay in the euro and in the EU – but not as it is now” and that “there has been excessive use of the populist label”.

“In recent times …. anyone who criticises the European project is labelled a populist and anti-European,” De Sio says.

“Even pro-European parties like the (centre-left) Democratic Party or (Berlusconi’s) Forza Italia announced their willingness to change the EU’s current austerity policy during the election campaign.”

Tajani warns compatriots against exiting the euro

This year’s “State of the Union” conference opened in Florence on Friday  (11 May), coinciding with the news that Italy is likely to get a coalition government of two Eurosceptic forces, both keen on leaving the eurozone. Speaking at the event, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani strongly warned Italy against exiting the euro.

This disillusionment was captured by Italian president Sergio Mattarella, who in his speech on the State of the Union conference in Florence 10 days ago outlined “the diffuse belief among European citizens that the common project has lost its ability to truly meet the growing hopes of large sections of the population.”

However Gianfranco Pasquino, professor of political science at the Johns Hopkins School in Bologna, lays the blame for Italy’s shift on the establishment parties Mattarella has served ever since entering national politics in the early 1980s.

“If we have come to this point it is because the pro-European parties, starting with the Democratic Party … have not waged a real political and cultural battle for Europe,” he says.

“They have had an ambivalent attitude in many ways.”

5-Star, League want ECB to forgive €250 billion of Italy debt

The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and far-right Northern League plan to ask the European Central Bank to forgive €250 billion of Italian debt, according to a draft of a coalition programme the parties are working on.

Rejection

Across the continent disenchantment with the EU also reflects the rejection of the established political class considered the architects of the current crisis.

This feeling is especially strong in Italy, where a so-called political “caste” has for decades been seen as being particularly corrupt and out of touch.

“There has been a rejection of the old political class due to its poor results, and the unpopular measures taken by the previous governments have not led to the hoped-for recovery. The vote also shows the desire to change an ineffective political class,” says De Sio.

“The M5S and the League have certainly made exaggerated promises but at least they gave the impression of a certain autonomy regarding Brussels, a kind of return to sovereignty.”

For Giorgio De Rita, general manager of socio-economic research centre Censis, the League and Five Star have been able to “ride a wave of discontent from people who could find no other form of representation.”

“The vote was one of anger, for some fear, for others hope, but above all, it showed that these feelings were no longer contained by traditional politics,” says Marco Damiliano, director of the weekly L’Espresso.

Italy: From pro-European to Euroscepticism

The strong performance of Eurosceptic parties in Italy’s 4 March election stands out in a country that was generally pro-European in years past. EURACTIV.fr reports.

Source: https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/how-did-eu-founding-member-italy-go-euro-sceptic/

The post How did EU-founding member Italy go Eurosceptic? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

March 15 marks seven years since the beginning of the Syrian war. Few words can convey the atrocities that the Syrian people continue to endure, in particular those unable to flee the war.

In the summer of 2015, the influx of refugees trying to reach Europe peaked when more than a million asylum seekers, mostly from Syria, arrived by land and sea in search of a better life.

Since then the number of asylum seekers has decreased drastically due to the 2016 EU-Turkey deal, and now only a trickle make it through.

The European Union’s response to dealing with the humanitarian crisis has divided and created tensions among its members, leaving refugees to face legal and social challenges. This has also manifested itself in the rise of anti-refugee and far-right sentiments across Europe.

Divided European Union

The European Union’s way of dealing with the influx of refugees is based on the Dublin Regulation, which dictates that individuals who petition for asylum must do so in the country where they first enter the EU.

Greece, Italy and Spain, as the primary entry points, have had to disproportionately deal with the processing and hosting of refugees. In addition to these countries, Germany bypassed the Dublin Regulation and opened its borders, giving refugee status to 250,000 asylum seekers in 2016 despite facing opposition from several other EU members.

In 2015, the EU’s response to the unequal distribution of refugees among its members was to establish quotas for each EU member, which was aimed at relocating 120,000 refugees by 2017. EU members, however, failed to meet this goal, as exemplified by Hungary and Poland’s refusal to accept any refugees and the Czech Republic accepting only 12 since 2015. They claimed that refugees posed a threat towards their security and cultural integrity.

These three countries have been referred to the EU Court of Justice for failing to comply with EU laws. Ongoing negotiations could result in reform of the Dublin Regulation, as well as getting rid of refugee quotas altogether.

The precarious life of refugees and asylum applicants has created a pool of vulnerable people – in particular women and children – who face falling prey to forced labour, sexual trafficking, and other forms of exploitation.

Navigating restrictive refugee policies  

Most refugees want to go to the UK, Germany or Scandinavian countries where socio-economic conditions and refugees are treated better than in other EU member states. However, for many refugees seeking to leave camps and detention centres they need to navigate a complex bureaucratic system with ever-tightening asylum policies.

Greece, one of the poorest countries in the EU and in the midst of a financial crises has shouldered significant social and economic costs in hosting thousands of refugees.

According to the UNHCR there are more than 48,500 refugees, of which 14,500 are stuck in various Greek islands, waiting for their asylum petitions to be processed.

Those refugees whose goal is to reach the UK face strict domestic obstacles. According to the Dublin Regulations, refugees have the right to be reunified with their extended family members; however, the UK’s domestic law only allows reunification between children and parents.

The UK also promised to accept 3,000 unaccompanied minors after ‘the Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais, France was violently shut down. The UK eventually accepted 350 before the programme was shut down last year.

Whereas Germany, despite accepting thousands of refugees, has also restricted its immigration and refugee policies. In 2017, parliament passed stricter laws related to the monitoring, deportation and access to personal information of asylum seekers – which includes accessing their smartphones for security checks.

These laws have also led to the rejection of many asylum applications and hastened the deportation process.

Germany has faced criticism for offering to pay Afghan refugees to return to their own country despite the fact that Afghanistan is still a country at war.

Similarly, Scandinavian countries – particularly Norway, Sweden and Finland – which rank among the top five European countries to receive the highest number of refugees proportional to their population – have been a hopeful destination for asylum seekers because of their generous refugee polices and a social welfare provisions.

Since 2015, however, these countries have also tightened their asylum policies by restricting family reunification, duration of stay and cutting benefits. Additionally, in December 2016, Denmark passed a controversial law, which authorised the police to seize assets from refugees worth more than $436 in return for the housing facilities they’re provided with.

Right-wing populism across Europe 

The increasing influence of far-right parties in several European countries has further complicated the settlement of the refugees.

The arrival of a large number of refugees has helped far-right parties to increase their electoral base through anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and populist rhetoric, catapulting otherwise fringe groups into parliaments across the EU.

Seeking to fighting fire with fire, many centrist parties have adopted the rhetoric of the far right and sought to cultivate a similar language to the extremist groups.

Populist leaders like Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front and Geert Wilder of Freedom Party in the Netherlands may not have won elections, but their anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric has moved the centre ground to the right. As a result governments have tightened their immigration policies.

In December last year, the leader of the Austrian People’s Party and current Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurtz formed a coalition with Heinz-Christian Strache’s anti-immigrant Freedom Party. Both parties have been vocal against the refugee influx in 2015 when Austria received 90,000 refugees. While the Freedom Party openly campaigned against Muslims and immigrants during the 2017 elections, Sebastian Kurtz subtly promoted anti-immigrant rhetoric and cutting benefits for asylum seekers.

A similar scenario exists in Germany with the entry of Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party, into the German parliament. AfD’s gaining of seats has been considered as a reaction to Angela Merkel’s open-border policy of Willkommenspolitik. The immigration quota was a central topic in the coalition talks that lasted over four months.

Whereas in Poland last year 60,000 white supremacists and radical Islamophobes marched in the streets of Warsaw chanting “Pure Poland, white Poland!” and “Refugees get out.”

The march, organised on the eve of Poland’s Independence Day, reflects how racism and hatred are openly expressed and are gradually becoming the new normal.

Finally, the results of Italy’s elections this month is further proof that the wave of far-right populist parties continues to grow. The far-right, populist, and anti-establishment Five Star Movement came out on top by capturing more than 30 percent of the vote. Regardless of the parties that will form Italy’s next government, the success of right-wing populist parties in the election is likely to result in a greater demand to tighten and reform the country’s immigration and refugee policies.

An uncertain future

Refugees risk their lives by embarking on dangerous journeys to reach Europe, but once they arrive, they are greeted with a new set of hardships. Refugees are forced to live in inhumane conditions in unsanitary and overcrowded camps in various European countries. To escape such conditions, they have to navigate the complicated bureaucratic labyrinth of the refugee centres and restrictive asylum policies.

In addition, they have to face the changing social context of Europe where far-right parties are increasingly mobilising anti-refugee sentiment for political gains, while some central European leaders are openly rejecting the idea of accommodating refugees.

As the political divisions continue deepen, refugees are stuck in limbo, uncertain of what the future holds.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Saudi-crown-prince-says-will-develop-nuclear-bomb-if-Iran-does-545188

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