Foreign minister: Italy’s Salvini deserves gratitude, praise

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Friday said Italy’s right-wing League leader Matteo Salvini deserved “gratitude and praise”, in a Facebook comment reacting to Italy’s senate revoking Salvini’s immunity.

Szijjártó said the liberal mainstream press had presented the development as a victory, yet “it was Salvini who did not want to allow illegal migrants, human smugglers and their allies, the so-called NGOs, to laugh in the face of Italian and European laws, violate all existing regulations and arbitrarily call at port in Italy, thereby illegally entering Europe.”

Salvini decided to protect Italy and Europe, and “prove that what Hungary has done on land could also be done at sea, and it is equally possible to protect the external borders of Europe on land and at sea,” Szijjártó said.

He said Salvini had revealed “a Brussels lie” about sea borders being impossible to protect and “proved that it is indeed possible” to protect Europe’s maritime borders.

“It only requires taking our rules seriously and enforcing them,” he said. “There are rules for crossing borders that everyone must respect.”

Source: MTI