The Italian government wants to take drastic penalties against smugglers in the Mediterranean. According to a draft law presented to the cabinet on Thursday, smugglers will receive a prison sentence of 20 to 30 years if several people die during a crossing for which they are responsible. In the event of the death of a person, the sentence should be 15 to 24 years. In addition, the Italian Navy is to support the coast guard in monitoring the relevant routes of boat migrants across the central and eastern Mediterranean.
Matthias Rüb
Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta, based in Rome.
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Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had moved the regular cabinet meeting on Thursday afternoon from her office in Rome to the coastal town of Cutro in southern Calabria. On February 26, a refugee boat sank on the Mediterranean coast, killing at least 72 people, including 16 children and adolescents. 80 people survived. Most of the victims and survivors come from Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as from Syria, Iran and Somalia.
The public prosecutor's office in the provincial capital Crotone is investigating two Turks and two Pakistanis on suspicion of having steered the boat with more than 150 people on board from the Turkish coast near Izmir to Calabria. On Wednesday, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi had again rejected allegations at hearings in parliament that the Italian authorities had not done everything to help the people on the boat in heavy seas before the cutter crashed into a rock a few meters from the shore.