As of: January 29, 2024, 10:05 p.m
By: Laura May
Comments
Press
Split
Giorgia Meloni strikes a conciliatory tone at the Africa summit.
© IMAGO/IPA/ABACA
The ultra-right head of government in Italy is actually known for anti-migrant statements.
Now she wants to help Africa.
Rome – Migration was one of the most important election campaign issues for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The post-fascist repeatedly expressed her displeasure and promised to limit immigration to Italy.
But: Despite the harsh rhetoric, the number of arriving migrants has increased since she took office in 2022.
Since January, Italy has chaired the G7 group of the most important industrial nations.
Meloni has made so-called development aid in Africa a priority.
On the one hand, it wants to be a bridge between Europe and Africa, and on the other hand, it wants to push back migration across the Mediterranean.
Meloni wants to look for solutions starting Monday (January 29) as part of the Africa summit in Rome.
To this end, she welcomed more than 20 African heads of state and government as well as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as representatives from UN organizations, the World Bank and various NGOs.
At the start of the conference, Meloni explained that she wanted to “work on an equal footing” with the African states.
Meloni wants to invest in Africa – and deport people from Italy more quickly
According to a report in Die
Welt
, Meloni's proposed concept has similarities to Angela Merkel's ideas in her Compacts with Africa (CwA) concept.
With a comprehensive investment plan of 5.5 billion euros, the ultra-right head of government wants to support African states in the areas of energy, agriculture, water, health and education.
The plan will start with pilot projects such as modernizing grain production in Egypt, water treatment in Ethiopia or training in renewable energies in Morocco.
With long-term investments, Meloni hopes to improve African living standards and thus reduce the number of migrants arriving in Italy, as she promised when she took office.
Along with Greece, Italy is one of the main arrival countries for people from the Middle East and Africa.
In addition to the conciliatory investment ideas, according to the
dpa
, Meloni also wants to present her so-called Mattei Plan at the Africa conference, which envisages return agreements with the countries of origin of migrants who have had their asylum applications rejected.
Meloni's Africa plan meets with approval from the European and African Union
Human rights organizations repeatedly criticize the attempt by states to deport migrants by force or to prevent them from arriving in Europe through various methods as violating human rights.
Ursula von der Leyen herself was heavily criticized for her controversial migration pact with Tunisia.
The EU Commission President described Italy's investment plans presented in Rome as "complementary" to the European Union's 150 billion euro Africa package of 2022.
My news
Putin's T-90 is defeated in a duel - a steel colossus full of weak points
Russia reacts to major NATO maneuvers – and threatens “tragic consequences” read
Baerbock hits the Union with the K question at a carnival event - “... and get Söder” read
Erdogan tricks the SPD and the Greens: first a double pass, then new party readings
Putin's tanks fall into deadly drone trap in Ukraine
“The enemy is gathering troops”: According to Ukraine soldiers, Putin is preparing a major attack read
And the President of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Moussa Faki Mahamat, also emphasized the good will of the AU countries to talk in detail about the content of Meloni's plan.
In his opinion, in Africa in general, the areas of “agriculture, infrastructure, environment, energy, health, education and digitalization” have the highest priority for possible investments.
(lm/dpa)