XPost: soc.culture.italian, alt.politics.immigration, alt.politics.obama   
   XPost: misc.survivalism, sac.politics   
   From: emailbarry@yahoo.com   
      
   The Obama era is over.   Keep your trash.   
      
   Italy will continue to block rescue boats carrying migrants looking to   
   dock in its ports, its interior minister announced Saturday. The   
   position escalates the new populist government’s fight with other   
   European countries on migration and asylum, thorny issues that have   
   spurred intense debate in the U.S. as well.   
      
   Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is also the leader of   
   the nationalist League Party, said in a Facebook statement Saturday   
   that in addition to an NGO ship that was refused entry last week, two   
   other ships have arrived off the coast of Libya -- he said those boats   
   won't be taken, either.   
      
   Italy, he said, “no longer wants to be complicit in the business of   
   illegal immigration,” and such boats will have to find other   
   non-Italian ports at which to dock.   
      
   Salvini’s League, which campaigned predominantly on tensions over mass   
   migration, formed a coalition government with the anti-establishment   
   5-Star Movement in May and has so far shown no signs of backing down   
   on its election rhetoric since forming the government in May.   
   Italy was condemned by some European countries, particularly France,   
   for turning away a boat last week that was carrying 629 migrants.   
      
   The boat is expected to arrive in Spain late Saturday after Spain’s   
   socialist government offered the boat harbor.   
      
   While humanitarian groups have claimed that the rescue boats are   
   aiding migrants stranded off the Libyan coast, Salvini and others have   
   accused such organizations of operating a taxi service for potential   
   illegals and has called on other countries to share the burden of   
   taking asylum seekers.   
      
   But after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Italy of “cynical”   
   and “irresponsible” behavior, the government responded by summoning   
   the French ambassador, demanding an apology and challenging Macron to   
   take in more asylum seekers.   
      
   On Friday, Macron met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in   
   Paris and both leaders took a more conciliatory approach.   
      
   "The proper response is European, but the existing European response   
   has not adapted," Macron said, while Conte called Macron "my friend   
   Emmanuel."   
      
   Under European Union law, migrants must apply for asylum in the first   
   country they enter. But this places a burden on countries such as   
   Greece and Italy. The Eurosceptic Italian government is likely to push   
   for a reform of those laws ahead of a summit in Brussels later this   
   month.   
      
   Italy’s tough stance on migration comes as populist and anti-migration   
   parties surge across the continent, while those associated with more   
   open immigration policies are being punished politically.   
      
   German Chancellor Angela Merkel is fighting to keep her coalition   
   government together after she has rejected a proposal by Interior   
   Minister Horst Seehofer to turn away migrants who have already   
   registered in other European countries. He also wants to block   
   migrants whose asylum applications have already been rejected.   
   But Merkel has rejected the move, fearing that it could fracture the   
   E.U. even further. Seehofer has threatened to forge ahead with the   
   policy, a move that could well bring down Merkel’s government and lead   
   to new elections.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06/16/italys-populist-governme   
   t-wont-permit-boats-carrying-migrants-to-dock-despite-eu-pressure.html   
      
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