Salvini's Record on Border Tightening and Relocation
14 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2019
Date Written: June 12, 2019
Abstract
Matteo Salvini, like many national-populists, is a vocal critic of the European Union. It showed during his first year in office, when he focused on migration. His aim was to tighten the maritime borders of Italy and, in so doing, to force other EU states to participate in migrant relocation – something Brussels had failed to do. The record is mixed. Success was accompanied by failure.
This essay begins with a brief look at the past, with the situation that Salvini inherited from his predecessor, Marco Minniti of the Democratic Gentiloni government. The second part deals with the more important operations that Salvini managed to control during his first year in office. The third part discusses some of the special issues he encountered including, among other things, the difficult position of Malta. The article ends with an evaluation of Salvini's overall performance, followed by a table listing the 60 or so SAR operations that he had to deal with.
Keywords: Migration, Mediterranean, Italy, Malta, European Union, Matteo Salvini, Search and Rescue
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