ROME, Aug. 16 -- The feud between Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Matteo Salvini, the man who may be looking to replace Conte as Italy's head of government, heated up this week after Conte accused Salvini of "disloyalty" with an "obsession" of preventing migrants from entering Italy.
The high-profile clash between two of Italy's most high-profile figures comes amid a political crisis that could see the government Conte leads collapse. Salvini, who is one of Conte's deputy prime ministers, is also head of the nationalist, anti-migrant League, Italy's largest political party. He said last week that the League's alliance with the populist Five-Star Movement was "broken" and could not be repaired.
That paved the way for a confidence vote on the Conte government and, perhaps, snap elections that would select a new parliament that would reflect the growing support for the League.
In the midst of the crisis, Salvini contradicted Conte's work regarding the migrant rescue ship "Open Arms", which has been anchored off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa for days with 147 would-be asylum seekers on board.
Conte said the ship should be allowed to dock at Lampedusa and that he negotiated with six European Union countries -- France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, and Spain -- to assure they were "ready to welcome the migrants" in their territory. But Salvini issued an order refusing to allow the ship to dock, sparking the outage from Conte.
"Dear Matteo," Conte wrote in an open letter to Salvini, published on social media. "I understand your ... obsessive concentration on addressing the issue of immigration by reducing the issue to a formula of 'closed ports'. You are a political leader and you are legitimately intent on constantly increasing your support."
Salvini struck back, defending his "closed ports" policy: "Without this firmness the European Union would have never lifted a finger, leaving Italy and the Italians alone," he wrote, also on social media.
The policies Salvini has put into place -- which also include threats of fines and the seizure of rescue ships, along with dramatic cuts to migrant integration programs -- have had a dramatic impact on the number of migrant arrivals in Italy.
According to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, some 248 migrants arrived in Italy between January and July of this year. That compares to 5,204 during the same period in 2018, which includes the period when Conte and Salvini came into power, and 38,747 who arrived during the equivalent period in 2017.
But critics of Salvini's policies note that those figures do not take into account the rising death toll of migrants who are not rescued or who are forced to languish at sea waiting for permission for their rescue ships to dock. Critics also wonder why Salvini continues to tighten rules against migrant arrivals when the flow of arrivals has already slowed to a small trickle.
"Salvini is clearly making the moves for political reasons," Federico Castorina, president of Cultura Democratica, a think tank, told Xinhua. "Conte is becoming more autonomous with time and with the government crisis he may think he has nothing to lose by standing up to Salvini. Since taking power last year, Conte has been a mediator and perhaps he now feels Salvini is going too far."
学区房需求走低 家长只看不买
争取名校就读资格 香港“学区房”也是紧俏品
姐姐Grace将退出爸爸去哪儿第二季 芒果台给予证实
撤销学前班 配套措施必须跟上
明星辣妈育儿,各有高招
北京五道口学区房均价跌破6万每平 去年超10万
非京籍优秀生源“回流”国际学校招生遇“大年”
一年级新生入校前培训 萌娃大多很淡定
新生家长如何应对“开学恐惧症”?
“新晋”小学生如何才能不“掉链子”?
新学期临近新一轮包书皮大战开启 包5本书要花俩小时
北京:小学生开学典礼“绘画美好明天”
幼升小:身心准备比知识储备更重要
为了孩子能分好班 有家长摸清整个年级所有老师性格
9月1日起实施“零起点”教学 幼小衔接周帮助新生适应小学
学区房承载中国式“望子成才”期待
“就近入学”强政第一年 择校风能否刹住
幼升小应提前养成习惯 心理准备更重要
北京小学生年花费:打工子弟1万元国际小学22万元
教出非凡宝贝的教育戏剧!
幼升小名词:什么是“学习准备期”?
幼升小“零起点”教学能否还孩子快乐童年
幼升小:开学啦 有人欢喜有人忧
一年级新生快速适应环境,要做好哪5件
学习音乐可开发儿童语言天赋
一年级豆包第一课:唱儿歌讲故事
高科技一年级作业需打印 专家:妨碍写字能力
五位专家对话幼升小家长 谈零起点"看台效应"怎么破
秋季开学小学部分年级更换新教材
让孩子学会自理 幼升小家长先教孩子三件事
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |