- Italian deputy prime minister compared African migrants with slaves at a conference on migration and security
- This drew the anger of Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's foreign and immigration minister
- The African Union has also reacted asking the Italian leader to retract his derogatory statement
- The AU also asked Italy to emulate other European countries supporting migration, saying Italy has also benefitted from migration in the past
The Italian deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, reportedly likened African immigrants to slaves at a European conference on Thursday, September 13.
Daily Mail reports that the deputy minister’s words consequently drew an angry response from Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, who cursed at him in frustration.
NAIJ.com gathered that Salvini has led a popular crackdown against immigration since Italy's coalition government took office in June.
He was speaking at a closed-door session of a conference on migration and security hosted by Austria, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.
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“I heard someone say we need immigration because the population is ageing. I see things completely differently,” Salvini told the session in remarks filmed and posted on his Facebook profile.
He said: “I'm paid by citizens to help our young people start having children again the way they did a few years ago, and not to uproot the best of the African youth to replace Europeans who are not having children anymore...
“Maybe in Luxembourg, there's this need, in Italy there's the need to help our kids have kids, not to have new slaves to replace the children we're not having.”
Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's foreign and immigration minister, was sitting a few places down from Salvini and grew visibly angry as Salvini spoke.
He finally interrupted the Italian in French with “Allez, allez, allez”, suggesting he had gone to, according to Daily Mail.
“In Luxembourg, we had tens of Italian immigrants. They came as migrants, who worked in Luxembourg so that you could in Italy had money to pay for your children,” he said in French, concluding with the exclamation “Merde alors!”.
Asselborn’s statement was reportedly in reference to the decades following World War II, when several European countries took in migrant workers to meet the demand for labour during a prolonged economic boom.
The conference also had in attendance some European and African interior ministers as well as EU officials.
Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) has reacted to the Italian deputy minister’s statement. In a statement released on Tuesday, September 18, the AU expressed dismay at the comments made by the Italian leader.
It stated that name-calling will not resolve the migration challenges facing Africa and Europe and asked the deputy minister to retract his derogatory statement about African migrants.
Read the statement:
“It is common knowledge that emigration from Italy in the last two centuries has been the most important case of mass migration in modern European history. During the period from 1861 to 1976, more than 26 million people left the country, principally for other European countries and the Americas. Approximately, one Italian out of four emigrated, and it is on record that Italy has benefited greatly from its huge diaspora through remittances and trade.
“The history, geopolitics and future of Africa and Europe are so intertwined that the two continents cannot wish each other away. The current ‘migration crisis’ in Europe provides an opportunity for Africa and Europe to engage in a dialogue that not only focuses on migration issues but also on the broader development cooperation between the two continents. Thus, the migration-and-development debate should increasingly take place within the context of the debate on the socio-economic development of the continent, and not as a separate issue that responds to the ‘migration crisis’ in Europe.
“In the interests of constructive engagement on the migration debate between the two continents, the African Union requests the Italian deputy prime minister to retract his derogatory statement about African migrants and further urge Italy to emulate and support other European Union member states, like Spain, which have extended support and protection to migrants in distress, irrespective of their origin and legal status, before their admission status is determined.
“Further, the Commission wishes to express concern at the increasing number of migrants still finding their way to Europe through dangerous routes, despite the many efforts that the African Union, together with the United Nations and the European Union, has deployed to sensitize African citizens on the danger posed by these movements.”
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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that President Buhari warned Nigerians travelling out of the country illegally in search of greener pasture, saying they are doing so at their own risk.
The warning came on Friday, August 31, at a joint press briefing with the visiting German chancellor, Angela Merkel, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The president said his administration does not support anything illegal nor indiscipline.
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Source: Naija.ng
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