Salvini Says He Was Defending Italy by Blocking Migrants: Stampa
Salvini Says He Was Defending Italy by Blocking Migrants: Stampa
(Bloomberg) -- Matteo Salvini insisted that he defended Italy by refusing to let stranded migrants enter the country when he was interior minister, as parliament prepares to vote this week on whether he should be prosecuted.
“It’s crazy, I don’t know how much it costs in terms of men and money to show I’m a criminal, but I’m not afraid and I’ll explain in court that I defended my country,” Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant League party, told newspaper La Stampa.
The full chamber of the Senate will vote Wednesday on whether Salvini should face prosecution for kidnapping for refusing to allow a coast guard ship that had rescued 131 migrants crossing the Mediterranean to dock in Sicily in July. Salvini says he was applying government policy and waiting for other European Union countries to accept the migrants.
A Senate panel voted last month to allow prosecution in a non-binding decision. Parties in Premier Giuseppe Conte’s ruling coalition are expected to vote for prosecution to go ahead.
Asked by La Stampa whether he was jealous of a trip by his right-wing ally Giorgia Meloni, of the Brothers of Italy party, to Washington and whether he saw her as a dangerous competitor, Salvini replied: “Everyone is entitled to their own path and their trips. A party like the League with 30% support mustn’t be afraid of anything or anyone.”
Meloni, whose party is surging in opinion polls and is part of the League-led center-right bloc, spoke in Washington at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this week.
Salvini abandoned Conte’s first coalition during the summer in a failed bid to trigger a snap general election. His party has been the biggest force in opinion surveys ever since, with support far ahead of rivals in government.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Sara Marley
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