Salvini rejects EU proposal of financial support to countries taking in migrants

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini described the recent EU proposal to pay €6,000 for each disembarked migrant as a “charity handout”.

“If they want to give money to someone else let them do so. Italy doesn’t need charity,” Salvini said according to a Financial Times report.

On Monday, the European Commission rolled out a set of proposals to improve the processing of migrants on their arrival and also gave the first outlines of the concept of regional disembarkation centres in third countries.

Among these measures, governments who take in migrants from boats stranded at sea will receive €6,000 per person.

However, Salvini said it was not about the money, but about clearing the backlog. “We want to stop the inflows in order to clear the backlog of hundreds of thousands of people. We are not asking for money but for dignity and we are recovering it with our own hands,” FT reported.

The proposals also included setting up controlled centres in the EU, which would improve the process of distinguishing between migrants in need of international protection and those with no grounds to stay in the EU, while speeding up returns.

The centers would be managed by the host Member State with full support from the EU and EU Agencies and could have a temporary or ad-hoc nature depending on the location.

The EU will also offer full financial support to Member States who volunteer to cover the infrastructure and operational costs.