Italy and Germany in war of words over German rescue ship captain

By Valentina Za

 

Salvatore Tesoriero, lawyer of the German NGO Sea-Watch, speaks to the media in Lampedusa, Italy June 30, 2019. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

 

MILAN (Reuters) - A war of words broke out between Germany and Italy on Sunday over the German captain of a rescue ship, who defied a docking ban enforced by Rome to bring migrants ashore.

 

Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini angrily dismissed a German call not to treat the captain as a criminal.

 

After spending two weeks in international waters with dozens of rescued African migrants, Carola Rackete, 31, was arrested on Saturday when the Sea-Watch 3 ship docked at the island port of Lampedusa without permission.

 

She had already been placed under investigation on suspicion of aiding people-smugglers under laws introduced by Salvini to deter non-government rescue ships.

 

Salvini, leader of the ruling right-wing League party, has taken a hard stance on immigration, closing off Italian ports and accusing fellow European countries of leaving Italy alone to deal with sea arrivals.

 

The Sea-Watch 3 case rekindled tensions with both France and Germany.

 

"We kindly ask the German president to worry about what happens in Germany and if possible ask its citizens not to break Italian laws," Salvini said in response to German President Frank Walter Steinmeier.

 

"Anyone who saves people's lives cannot be considered a criminal," Steinmeier told German public broadcaster ZDF.

 

The Italian government blames Rackete for endangering the lives of four policemen who were aboard a patrol boat that ended up squeezed against the quay as the Sea-Watch 3 approached, before managing to free itself.

 

Salvini has called it "a criminal act, an act of war".

 

A lawyer for Rackete told Reuters she had immediately switched off her engines when she realised the Sea-Watch 3 might have got too close to the patrol boat.

 

"She is very sorry to have a created a situation of danger and fright among tax police officials. It was a difficult manoeuvre but she always felt she was conducting it in a safe way ... she had been approaching extremely slowly," lawyer Alessandro Gamberini said in a telephone interview.

 

"POLITICAL BLACKMAIL"

Arriving in Brussels for a summit of EU leaders, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte accused Rackete of "political blackmail" before a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which he said would not touch upon the issue. However, Conte said he may discuss with Merkel how Berlin has applied an Italian ruling that three years ago convicted ThyssenKrupp executives for manslaughter after seven employees were killed in a 2007 fire at a Turin plant.

 

The clash with Berlin compounds tensions with France, with Salvini inviting two rescue ships currently in the Mediterranean to head to a French port after French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner criticised Italy's approach.

 

A Spanish NGO boat on Sunday said it had rescued 40 immigrants and was heading towards Lampedusa.

 

"I wouldn't want someone to start again with the same boring ritual at the expense of migrants. Since France is willing, they should know they can head to Marseilles or Corsica," Salvini told Sky TG24 television.

 

"I COULD BE DEAD NOW"

Rackete's boat was impounded and Sea-Watch could be fined up to 50,000 euros ($57,000).

 

The interior ministry said the 41 migrants who disembarked the Sea-Watch 3, run by the German charity Sea-Watch, were "fed and spent a quiet night ... so it's unclear why the NGO needed to dock without authorisation".

 

But Sea-Watch spokeswoman Giorgia Linardi said Rackete had felt she could no longer keep the migrants on the ship as suicide threats were forcing its crew to keep a constant watch.

 

"I say 'thank-you' to Sea Watch," said one of the migrants, 21-year-old Isaac. "Because if it wasn't ... (for) Sea-Watch, I'd be a dead body by now."

 

Salvini said the Lampedusa arrivals would be divided up between France, Germany, Luxembourg, Finland and Portugal.

"A magistrate has 48 hours to decide if the lady in charge of the ship that tried to squash four policemen like sardines deserves to remain in jail or not," Salvini added.

 

"If she is released, we have an expulsion order ready."

 

($1 = 0.8797 euros)

 

(Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels, Antonio Denti in Lampedusa; Douglas Busvine in Frankfurt; Joan Faus in Madrid; Editing by Kevin Liffey and David Evans)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-01

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"We kindly ask the German president to worry about what happens in Germany and if possible ask its citizens not to break Italian laws"

perfect!

Italy has finally come to their sences. If Germany want these 'rocket scientists' so bad, just deport them directly to them.

Edited July 1, 20197 yr by Vacuum

She should get very long jail time for human trafficking.

 

Show the others how they gonna end up.

6 minutes ago, HeyHeyHey said:

She should get very long jail time for human trafficking.

 

Show the others how they gonna end up.

Time to educate yourself on the definition/s for human trafficking.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Rackete's boat was impounded and Sea-Watch could be fined up to 50,000 euros ($57,000).

Use it as an artificial reef for fish.

very apt surname not far off RACKETEERING   he he, wonder what her cut was, she can pay the fine with it.

18 minutes ago, HeyHeyHey said:

She should get very long jail time for human trafficking.

 

Show the others how they gonna end up.

Don't think she's being prosecuted for trafficking. Rather it's for endangering Italian officials' lives. Either way a jail term is in order.

2 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Italy has finally come to their sences. If Germany want these 'rocket scientists' so bad, just deport them directly to them.

I agree.

 

If Germany and France have a problem with this Captain being held for breaking Italy's rules, they should immediately declare that they will take ALL the immigrants 'saved' by these 'rescue' ships - instead of coming out with useless rhetoric.

I'm German but I can't support them when they try to say someone who almost killed people or at the very least damaged a boat isn't a criminal when they broke Italian law by docking without permission.

Anyone who doesn't clearly see this is an issue is just talking from their ego and shouldn't be in politics.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

 

"Anyone who saves people's lives cannot be considered a criminal," Steinmeier told German public broadcaster ZDF.

Many of these Samaritans are really criminals, because to "save" the fugitives make a lot of money!
But then why didn't they go to Hamburg? German ship without any permit to dock in Italy, continue your way to the great Germany!

3 hours ago, simple1 said:

Time to educate yourself on the definition/s for human trafficking.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking

 

Yes, she's just a misguided liberal German who thinks she can dictate to other countries what they must do and ignore their laws when it suits them. 

 

Btw, ask yourself why she didn't follow Maritime Law and deposit the illegal economic migrants, who had paid people smugglers to get them into Europe illegally, into the nearest port. Because she wanted to facilitate bringing them illegally to the EU. 

 

 

26 minutes ago, 30la said:

Many of these Samaritans are really criminals, because to "save" the fugitives make a lot of money!
But then why didn't they go to Hamburg? German ship without any permit to dock in Italy, continue your way to the great Germany!

 

The ship is registered in the Netherlands.

 

But she ignored nearer African ports - naturally. Which suggests she's facilitating the smuggling.

Africa currently has a population of 820 million, by 2050 the UN projects a population that's ballooned to 2.XX billion.

 

The Med is gonna become rather congested with small vessels.

 

Frau Merkel has already demonstrated what an open-door policy would look like, Germany's neighbours/"EU partners" didn't seem too impressed!

Jail time needed, a long exemplary sentence plus impounding and scuttling of the boat. If these people want to be helpful, send the migrant back to Africa. 

"Anyone who saves people's lives cannot be considered a criminal," Steinmeier told German public broadcaster ZDF.

 

Agreed, noble words. But who is talking about? I don't see anyone saving people's lives in this story.

 

 

15 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Yes, she's just a misguided liberal German who thinks she can dictate to other countries what they must do and ignore their laws when it suits them. 

 

Btw, ask yourself why she didn't follow Maritime Law and deposit the illegal economic migrants, who had paid people smugglers to get them into Europe illegally, into the nearest port. Because she wanted to facilitate bringing them illegally to the EU. 

 

 

More precisely, because her company's contract was to bring them to Italy.

Following the same logic, if you save someone's life or help someone in need, you have to take care of them for the rest of your life.
Utter and absolute BS!!

17 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The ship is registered in the Netherlands.

 

But she ignored nearer African ports - naturally. Which suggests she's facilitating the smuggling.

Which African ports would have accepted the asylum seekers?

2 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Which African ports would have accepted the asylum seekers?

If she took them to an African port, they wouldn't be seeking asylum there, would they? They would simply be people rescued at sea, which by the Rule of Law you so like to quote, have to be accepted.

21 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Yes, she's just a misguided liberal German who thinks she can dictate to other countries what they must do and ignore their laws when it suits them. 

 

Btw, ask yourself why she didn't follow Maritime Law and deposit the illegal economic migrants, who had paid people smugglers to get them into Europe illegally, into the nearest port. Because she wanted to facilitate bringing them illegally to the EU. 

 

 

Enough of the extreme far right rhetoric, you're only an echo chamber for the cruelty of and mismanagement of the current Italian government - info below.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/14/italy-rejects-record-number-of-asylum-applications

 

Regards your commentary, the ship's captain rescued asylum seekers at risk of drowning in international waters. These people's status cannot be assessed until they are processed by a country which has signed and ratified the UN Convention and has relevant legal processes enacted. 

34 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The ship is registered in the Netherlands.

 

But she ignored nearer African ports - naturally. Which suggests she's facilitating the smuggling.

Y’all keep repeating the same lines and lies. Is this an attempt to deceive thru repetition, or simple ignorance?

 

Whatever... I’ll just repeat the truth of the matter... the nearer African ports are not considered safe, therefore the refugees can not be taken to them... and in the case of Tunisia, you get a double whammy, because along with being unsafe, they too have closed their ports to rescue boats, so Tunisia is completely off the table by every metric.

 

meanwhile... the tax officials deliberately endangered themselves by putting a much more maneuverable boat between a slowly moving, less maneuverable ship, and a hard place, and should be fired for recklessness in the workplace.... this stupid act was not that dissimilar an action to those committed by idiots who chain themselves to bulldozers and the like, which gets right wing whackos frothing at the mouth.

Edited July 1, 20197 yr by jany123

A lot of posters just do not know, that the Captain of the ship must act to specified procedures at sea, as well as the harbor officials are obliged to let the ship come ashore and not to hinder it, all according to the International Maritime Law. These polemics especially against the captain are utterly Rubbish.

See for yourself:

 

https://www.unhcr.org/450037d34.pdf

 

It seems to me so many posters appear to have missed out on the Compassion gene along with the Empathy gene.

 

21 minutes ago, JulesMad said:

Following the same logic, if you save someone's life or help someone in need, you have to take care of them for the rest of your life.
Utter and absolute BS!!

Fascinating... can you explain the line of logic you are referencing, because, to quote you, it sounds like “utter and absolute BS!”

18 minutes ago, Ozman52 said:

If she took them to an African port, they wouldn't be seeking asylum there, would they? They would simply be people rescued at sea, which by the Rule of Law you so like to quote, have to be accepted.

Incorrect assumption.

1 minute ago, simple1 said:

Incorrect assumption.

Well come on, what is incorrect?

1 minute ago, Ozman52 said:

Well come on, what is incorrect?

You're so clever I'm sure you can work it out

Edited July 1, 20197 yr by simple1

32 minutes ago, arithai12 said:

More precisely, because her company's contract was to bring them to Italy.

https://sea-watch.org/en/sea-watch-comes-to-an-agreement-concerning-the-code-of-conduct/

Sort of.... a deal signed with the Italians, which they have decided to renege on.

6 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

It seems to me so many posters appear to have missed out on the Compassion gene along with the Empathy gene.

 

Both of those genes are dominant in the "one born every minute" cluster. Copies are found elsewhere but not in sufficient numbers to over-ride the "common sense" and "natural cynicism" genes which offer much needed protection.