Updates: Italy refuses another migrant ship;
Germany’s Merkel less popular, but holding on, by Ann Corcoran 6/22/18.
While
many of us are fixated on our own migrant invasion at the border, Europe is in
a tizzy as Italy refuses a docking request from a second migrant ferry (aka
rescue boat) from Libya.
From
AP at ABC News:
Italy’s hard-line
interior minister on Thursday refused port to a Dutch-flagged rescue boat with
224 migrants on board, a week after turning away another foreign ship, the
Aquarius, carrying 630 migrants.
Salvini told the Dutch-flagged ship to
take its cargo to the Netherlands! https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/21/europe/italy-interior-minister-salvini-lifeline-rescue-ship-intl/index.html
These
so-called rescue boats enter Libyan waters to pick up their human cargoes not
even waiting until they reach international waters.
Matteo Salvini said the ship operated by the German aid group Mission
Lifeline had loaded the migrants in Libyan waters after the Italian coast guard
told it to leave the rescues to the Libyan coast guard.
Salvini
said he had contacted the Dutch ambassador about the ship’s activities, adding
that the migrants “will only see Italy on a postcard.”
Mission
Lifeline said it conducted the rescue in international waters and asked for a
safe port, which had not been assigned, adding “‘we are sailing northward.” The
ship’s position Thursday night was not clear.
Italy’s
transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, told the news agency ANSA after a Cabinet
meeting late Thursday that the Lifeline remained in Libyan waters, according to
Italian coast guard officials. He also said that the ship would be seized by
Italian authorities if it arrived in Italy.
Salvini has likened such rescue ships to taxi services that finish the
job for migrant smugglers.
He also has pointed out the failure of other European Union nations to take
their share of migrants headed for Europe, a point that Italy will press in
upcoming EU meetings.
Salvini has threatened that Italy will withhold its payments to the EU
if it doesn’t get more help on the migrant issue. More here.
Meanwhile
in Germany…..Almost
half of Germans want Merkel to resign, poll shows. The poll results are
mixed in my opinion. From The Local:
A survey carried out by
YouGov and published on Friday shows that 43 percent of Germans want Merkel to
leave office.
The survey also revealed that 42 percent of respondents wanted the
veteran Chancellor to stay on as head of government, while 15 percent did not give a
response either way.
Somewhat
surprisingly, Merkel is most popular among voters of the environmentalist Green
party, two thirds of whom said she should stay in office.
By
the way, on the issue of environmentalists, any real environmentalist knows
that vast numbers of migrants entering any western country are going to hurt
the environment as they will consume more open space, more land for schools,
housing, roads, will create more pollution and gobble up limited resources as
well.
I’m
digressing, back to the news….The
survey also showed that most Germans don’t believe that the coalition will
collapse over the current dispute between Merkel and the CSU. Only 32
percent of respondents said that the coalition is about to fall to pieces,
while 45 percent said it would survive to fight another day.
Nonetheless half the respondents said that they did not believe that
the coalition would make it to the next scheduled national elections in 2021.
Whereas
Merkel once enjoyed unrivalled support among German voters, recent polls have
shown dwindling patience with her policies. More at The Local.
See
my ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive for ten years of posts on the
subject. See my previous post on Mama Merkel here.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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