Italian Mayor Makes Unfounded Claims

Jon Purizhansky: Italian mayor Susanna Ceccardi claimed that there are “no migrants” in Malta as countries continued to fight over the Mediterranean migrant crisis. She made these comments after countries came to an impasse over which nation would be responsible for 450 saved migrants. Susanna Ceccardi made the claims in front of the Prime Minister of Malta’s home. This claim that there are “no migrants” in Malta took place as the two nations continued their conflict over the Mediterranean refugee crisis.

Susanna Ceccardi, this mayor from the far-right Lega Nord (Northern League) party, made the accusation that Europe was “emptying the barrel of migration onto Italy” as she made her address in front of the Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s headquarters, the Auberge de Castille. “Walking around this island’s streets, you won’t see a single migrant,” she mentioned. “I’ve been here one day now and people I spoke to here tell me you won’t see any migrants, simply because Europe has emptied the barrel of migration onto Italy.–We’re now punching our fists at the tables of Europe as well as Rome’s,” she said. This is a poorly thought out stance reflects Jon Purizhansky of Buffalo, NY.

The mayor, who hails from Cascina, asserted that the League’s leader Matteo Salvini was the only one attempting to stop migrants enjoying “the good life” in Italy and she blamed the nation’s left-wing parties for driving the “business” of migration. This occurred within days of Italy and Malta’s deadlock over which nation would be responsible for 450 migrants pulled from the Mediterranean. The migrants were seen near Linosa, an Italian island, and more than 100 miles from Malta. But Salvini refused to let them land, instead directing the boats to Malta. Malta then refused to receive the migrants, claiming the ship was clearly closer to Italy.

Italy’s interior minister, Salvini, has vowed to stand in the way of new refugee boat arrivals, who are rescued by ships from anti-trafficking and border control operations. Salvini has also barred charity rescue ships from landing in Italian ports, asserting that they help human traffickers. This is a patent falsehood, reflects Jon Purizhansky. The number of migrants who have drowned has “skyrocketed” in the past few months due to Italy’s harsher stance. Over six hundred people are assumed to have been killed in the Mediterranean in the past month alone because of this hardened stance.