Migrants Saved in the Mediterranean, Photo: Louisemichel/Dapress/Splashnews.com/Profimedia
Berlin will end its financial support for civil rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean, sources from the German Foreign Ministry, a new sign of tightening the German state policy on Wednesday, informs France Presse and Agerpres.
“The federal government no longer provides for subsidies for NGOs engaged in civil salvation”, these sources said.
This Government decision came into operation at the beginning of May marks a change of line in relation to the policy carried out by the previous coalition that had defended these aids.
In the first quarter of the current year, 900,000 euros were granted to the respective organizations, after a total of 2 million euros in 2024, the ministerial source said.
The NGOs that have benefited from this support are especially Humanity SOS, Mediterranee, Resqship, Sea-Eye and Sant'Egidio, which engage in saving migrants in the Mediterranean, one of the most deadly migration routes.
The previous head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, from the Green Party, justified these aids in the face of criticisms that reproached the NGOs that they favored, even involuntarily, the activity of the traffickers.
Before becoming a federal chancellor, the head of Conservatives Friedrich Merz had repeatedly stated that only a very restrictive policy in the field of migration could effectively brake the AFD far -right party in Germany.
