... And as Il Giornale pointed out in another article published on Nov. 11, while Italy has witnessed the landing of over 60,000 illegal immigrants over the course of the last five months, France has accepted the transfer from Italy of only 38 asylum seekers during that period. “So the decision to break promises had already been made,” Il Giornale wrote. “All that was missing was the excuse to make it official. And it is also clear that Paris’ retreat does not stem from our government’s choice to initiate a more assertive confrontation with the NGO ships.” In addition to all this, it has to be said that the Ocean Viking’s free shuttle service for illegal immigrants making the trip from Libya to Italy is not only run by an NGO based in France but it is mostly funded by left-wing local governments in France, including the city of Paris. It is a large boat capable of taking aboard several hundred immigrants at a time (it had well over 500 on some occasions) and costing €14,000 per day to operate. The French alternative media outlet La Lettre patriote has just published an internal document of SOS Méditerranée that can be seen here and which shows the subsidies they have received recently from French municipalities, departments, and regions. “On its website, SOS Méditerranée lists a total of 83 partner local governments,” comments La Lettre patriote. “In addition to major cities such as Lyon, Paris, Grenoble, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg, the NGO can count on significant financial support from nine departments, including Ille-et-Vilaine (€50,000 in 2020), Haute-Garonne (€100,000 in 2020), and Loire-Atlantique (€200,000 in 2020). On top of this, there are regional grants from Brittany (€75,000 in 2020), Burgundy (€50,000 in 2021), Centre-Val de Loire (€50,000 in 2021), and Occitania (€75,000 in 2020). Unsurprisingly, all these departments and regions are governed by left-wing majorities.” To make matters worse, the French Alt-Right website notes, “in February 2017, SOS Mediterranée received the label of ‘great national cause‘ directly from the prime minister. This has enabled it to broadcast its communication campaigns free of charge on public radio stations and television channels.” In January 2021, an appeal was launched by 28 French left-wing local authorities to provide moral and financial support to SOS Méditerranée and its 69-meter-long and 15-meter-wide Ocean Viking ship. Of course, these 28 local governments committed themselves to providing such support. The mayors of Paris (Anne Hidalgo), Lyon (Grégory Doucet), Marseille (Benoît Payan), Lille (Martine Aubry), Bordeaux (Pierre Hurmic), and Grenoble (Eric Piolle) were among the signatories. “By accepting for the first time that a boat disembarks migrants in a French port, Emmanuel Macron is sending a dramatic signal of leniency,” Marine Le Pen tweeted on Nov. 10. “With this decision, he can no longer make anyone believe that he wants to put an end to massive and anarchic immigration.” Back in 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron twice refused to allow the Aquarius to dock in Marseille with more than 600 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean. With the Ocean Viking, however, it would seem logical that France should take full responsibility for its passengers as it finances its operations. But Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, unlike the other major French parties, does not condemn Italy’s attitude. Speaking on France Info on Nov. 10, the spokeswoman for her parliamentary group praised the firmness of Giorgia Meloni’s government and said that if NGO ships pick up people in distress near the Libyan coast, they must take them back to their port of departure. Otherwise, Laure Lavalette added, the nearest safe port is in Tunisia, not in Italy. “Our firm policy on immigration is the only one that can prevent men and women from risking their lives to reach our continent. We must refuse to be accomplices to the smugglers and to allow the Ocean Viking to dock in France,” Marine Le Pen tweeted on Nov. 9. As for Giorgia Meloni, she recalled on Nov. 8 that “in matters of security and the fight against illegal immigration, the Italians have expressed themselves at the ballot box by choosing our program and our vision. (…) Our goal is to defend the law, security, and every person’s dignity. To do this, we want to curb illegal immigration, prevent further deaths at sea, and combat human traffickers. The citizens have asked us to defend Italy’s borders, and this government will not betray its word.” Two days earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán thanked his Italian counterpart in these terms: “Finally! We owe a big thank you to Giorgia Meloni and the new Italian government for protecting the borders of Europe. Grazie Giorgia!” The standoff is causing major concerns in Brussels, with European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas saying on Saturday that the EU “cannot allow two member states [to be] fighting each other in public and creating yet another mega political crisis over migration.”