Germany has hit back at Elon Musk after the billionaire businessman waded into the countryβs debate on migration.
Musk reshared a post on the platform X, formerly Twitter, that criticized German NGO operations in the Mediterranean for βunloading illegal immigrantsβ in Italy.
The post also called for a victory for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the next elections.
βThere are currently 8 German NGO ships in the Mediterranean Sea collecting illegal immigrants to be unloaded in Italy. These NGOs are subsidized by the German government. Letβs hope AfD wins the elections to stop this European suicide,β the post from an X account with the handle βRadio Genoaβ read.
Sharing the post to his 158 million followers on Friday, Musk, who owns the social media platform, wrote: βIs the German public aware of this?β
Hitting back at his comment, the German Foreign Office took to X to write: βYes. And itβs called saving lives.β
Musk doubled down on his criticism on Saturday, writing in another post: βFrankly, I doubt that a majority of the German public supports this.β
Muskβs comments come with Berlin locked in a spat with Italy over NGO sea operations.
Earlier this month, Germanyβs Interior Ministry said it would postpone βuntil further noticeβ its intake of migrants coming via Italy under a European voluntary solidarity plan.
Speaking at the sidelines of the 10th summit for MED9 countries on Friday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned that problems regarding migration will βnever be solved completely if every country thinks of unloading it on another.β
Leaders of the MED9, which includes France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Croatia and Slovenia, gathered in Valletta, Malta, on Friday.
Meloni said she spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday and said it seemed Germany was βtaking half a step back.β
βFor us redistribution has never been the priority, for me the problem will never be solved completely if every country thinks of unloading it on another. The only way to solve everyoneβs problem is the work weβre doing on the external dimension,β Meloni said.
Following Fridayβs meetings, the MED-9 released a joint statement outlining the need to βrespond rapidly to the recent challenge of increasing arrivals through Mediterranean routes.β
The statement said short and medium-term solutions were needed and called on the European Union (EU) to effectively reduce primary movements and prevent departures, to improve the rate of returns of failed asylum seekers, and to address the root causes of irregular migration.
Every year, tens of thousands of migrants fleeing war, persecution and poverty risk the treacherous route in search of safety and better economic prospects.
In many cases, their vessels are overcrowded and unfit for the journey, and the need to rescue migrants on board often leads to disputes between countries about who should take them in.
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