It is one of the most sensitive issues in the next federal budget: will Germany continue to fund private “emergency responders” in the Mediterranean?
According to information from BILD, the federal government wants to stop payments next year!
▶︎ In 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (42, Green Party) paid the organizations two million euros.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (46) accuses Germany of using payments to maritime relief activists to boost smugglers’ business. On Friday she met Olaf Scholz for a one-on-one discussion
Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
But this payment to clubs that go out on their ships, collect refugees and normally bring them to Italy is highly controversial. Italy’s ultra-right Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni (46), is furious and accuses Germany of using this method to boost drug traffickers’ business.
Chancellery is against additional payment
Apparently the federal government is reacting. In the 2023 budget, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that “maritime rescuers” should receive two million. The Greens parliamentary group, in particular, pressed for the money to be actually paid.
Now the twist: when preparing the budget for 2024, the Foreign Office did NOT again include the note about the two million for the “saviors of the sea”. Budget committee circles told BILD: “This was not an oversight. The Chancellery is against additional payments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sees the same thing.”
However, when it comes to money, it is not the government but Parliament that has the final say. And according to information from BILD, there is already pressure from the Green group for the “savior of the sea” note to be included again in next year’s budget.
▶︎ In two weeks, Ampel’s chief housekeepers will discuss Baerbock’s budget. The adjustment meeting of the budget committee will take place in mid-November, at which the financial plan for 2024 will be finalized. Then it will finally be clear whether the “maritime salvagers” will continue to receive tax money from Germany or not.
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What Chancellor Olaf Scholz (65, SPD) and his Foreign Minister want to support even more: aid organizations that care for refugees already on land.
Individual conversation between Scholz and Meloni
On Friday afternoon, Scholz met with Meloni for a confidential discussion on the sidelines of the EU summit in Grenada. The most important topic: the migration crisis.
And apparently the two also resolved the anger surrounding the “saviors of the sea”. Scholz praised the intense discussions and pragmatic agreements. In the asylum crisis, Germany and Italy worked “not against each other, but against each other”.
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Scholz made it clear that he does not believe in financing “maritime salvagers”. Referring to the “maritime savior” note in the 2023 budget, he said: “I did not submit the candidacy.” In simple language, this means: That was Parliament, against its will.
Now the government will have to fight with traffic light deputies, especially the Green parliamentary group, so that they do not include in the budget the millions in taxes allocated to maritime hardship activists. Because otherwise Germany could face huge problems with Meloni.
A family head told BILD: “The fact that Italy has agreed to the new European asylum system suggests that the federal government has signaled to Meloni: next year there will be an end to funding for maritime salvagers.”