Matteo Salvini

In March 2019 the mandate of Sophia was extended with a precondition imposed by the Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini: that the maritime operation will be limited to using only air assets and will have no naval vessels. (See: Italy Chapter D(ii))

During his mandate, Matteo Salvini spread the an anti-migration rethoric, insisting on the fact that Italy was left alone in facing a migrant "invasion" that would threten Italian values and traditions. Thanks to Salvini's rethoric, the Italian externalisation policies obtained more and more pulic support. [Italy; Ministry of Interior]

During his mandate, Salvini issued the so-called "Security Decrees" that reinforced the cultural of systematic discriminatittowards the migrant population living and transiting in Italy. [Italy; Closed Ports Policy]

Since Salvini started his mandate as Ministry of Interior, he pursued heavely the persecution of NGOs. He initially did so by issuing ad hoc orders that blocked many rescue vessels—including some Italian Coast guard vessels—from docking and disembarking at Italian ports. He later formalized this “closed ports” policy through a series of non-binding directives and binding decrees that sought to criminalize the operations of rescue NGOs. The combined effect of this full-frontal assault was that NGOs’ search-and-rescue operations fell apart under Salvini’s watch. What drastically changed during the Salvini’s mandate is the relationship between the Ministry of Interior and the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Rome, which coordinates SAR operations. Since 2018, Italian authorities involved in SAR operations (e.g. the Coast Guard, Navy vessels or merchant ships) have been impeded from conducting any operation outside Italian waters, and NGOs and foreign vessels are not allowed to disembark in Italian ports. A clear example of the Interior's influence over other Ministries and authorities is the five individual Directives, all going by Directive No 14100/141(8), known as the “Directive for the unified coordination of surveillance activities of maritime borders and for combating illegal immigration". During Salvini's mandate, the Ministry of Interior reinforced its influence especially on the IMRCC office which started to follow the Ministry's guidelines and impeded NGOs from entering Italian waters after having conducted rescue operations. Another piece of legislation that marked the Salvini's mandate is represented by the two Security Decrees, that reinforced the powers of the Ministry of the Interior and evidently aimed to put an end to NGO rescue missions in the central Mediterranean, regardless of the human cost.  [Italy; Ministry of Interior; Closed ports policy]

During Salvini's mandate, the Ministry of Interior continued to provide material supply to the Libyan government to support its forces in border patroling activities. [Italy; The material supply and the training of the Libyan personnel by the Ministry of Interior ]