Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government seems to be changing course on illegal migration, seizing the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) migrant taxi ship, Geo Barents. The ship was impounded for 60 days by Italian authorities after dropping off 191 migrants it picked up in the Mediterranean.
Rome accused the crew of Geo Barents of endangering lives during a night-time rescue operation last Friday, alleging that they failed to inform Italian authorities promptly. MSF denies the charges, stating that the crew was forced to act after witnessing migrants falling—or being pushed—overboard from a small boat as a Libyan coastguard vessel approached.
Meloni’s government, backed by her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, has succeeded in reducing migrant arrivals. This year, just over 39,500 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea, a sharp decline from the 112,500 who reached Italian shores during the same period last year.
MSF and other pro-migration groups have lodged formal complaints with the European Commission, which is still assessing whether Italy’s policies are consistent with EU and international law.
The Geo Barents is the latest in a string of migrant taxi vessels impounded by Italy, with authorities detaining ten such boats this year. The new approach for Meloni comes after a year of unsuccessfully trying to work with the European Commission and others to tackle the migrant crisis as over a hundred thousand illegals arrived in Italy by boat.
At one point, Meloni even stated that Europe and Italy needed immigration, adopting the establishment stance that migrants should be given safer legal routes to Europe. While migrant numbers to Italy have slowed in recent months, many seem to have switched to the Spanish route to Europe, which has surged.
