There’s two opposite approaches that have thus far occupied the political space concerning the issue in the European Union. One of them views the problem in a more humanitarian and ethic way. While the other one insists on devising provisional solutions with little or no humanitarian considerations whatsoever, with anti-immigration policies led by populist right-wing parties, as it’s the case for Italy’s government. These two approaches are the cause of the current dilemma concerning this diplomatic crisis in the EU.
The debate of has been developing over a long time and has risen to the level of political crisis. It isis influenced by many different stakeholders, which include different countries, political parties, corporations and citizens, that had an interest in directing this topic in their
In Italy, lobbying, defined as the attempt to persuade or influence leaders and public decisions, is both opaque and omnipresent in Italy. There is a lack of transparency around how decisions are made and who influences the decision-making process.
In other words, everybody knows that lobbying is happening, yet, it is very difficult to say who is lobbying whom, through which means and to what end.
Concerning this topic, Salvini is keeping up the pressure by lobbying Italy’s partners to obtain more EU assistance to handle the problem and influence the policy-making process in the field of immigration and refugee politics his favour. He also forged alliances with other far-right European groups including France’s National Rally, Seehofer, and Austria’s interior minister Herbert Kickl to combat illegal immigration.
In addition, the Commission and the European Parliament both back Italy’s demand that other member countries should share more of the responsibility for migrants.
The leaders of the EU countries, affected by the refugee crisis, have held various summit meetings in Brussels to discuss about how to handle the influx of people fleeing war, poverty and persecution. However, The EU is struggling to reach a consensus on this issue, as many actors in the discussion are using denial or delay tactics. This inability to reach a collective consensus and solve the dispute makes the EU an easy target of right wing party, which is gaining more and more support.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is still trying to arrange a permanent mechanism among EU countries to take in migrants aboard these ships and share responsibilities. The problem is that many of them refuse to admit asylum seekers.
Italy has also requested to distinguish genuine asylum seekers from economic migrants before they disembark from ships, as under international law, European countries must provide asylum to refugees but not to those escaping poverty and seeking jobs, who can be sent back to their original countries.