Germany scraps funding for sea rescues of migrants
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A migrant jumps into the water as a rescue vessel arrives, in international waters south of the Italian island of Lampedusa, in 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Germany will cut financial aid to migrant rescue charities, redirecting funds to address root causes of migration in source countries like Sudan.
- The previous government provided €2 million annually to NGOs like Sea-Eye, which saved 175,000 lives since 2015, but the new government believes sea rescues incentivise dangerous crossings.
- Critics like Sea-Eye's chairperson Gorden Isler fear they may have to halt missions, while the opposition Greens party warns this will worsen the humanitarian crisis.
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BERLIN - Germany is cutting financial support for charities that rescue migrants at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean, saying it will redirect resources to addressing conditions in source countries that spur people to leave.
For decades, migrants driven by war and poverty have made perilous crossings to reach Europe’s southern borders, with thousands estimated to die every year in their bid to reach a continent grown increasingly hostile to migration.
“Germany is committed to being humane and will help where people suffer but I don’t think it’s the foreign office’s job to finance this kind of sea rescue,” Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a news conference.
“We need to be active where the need is greatest,” he added, mentioning the humanitarian emergency in war-shattered Sudan.
Under the previous left-leaning government, Germany began paying around €2 million (S$3 million) annually to non-governmental organisations carrying out rescues of migrant-laden boats in trouble at sea.
For them, it has been a key source of funds: Germany’s Sea-Eye, which said rescue charities have saved 175,000 lives since 2015, received around 10 per cent of its total income of around €3.2 million from the German government.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives won February’s national election after a campaign promising to curb irregular migration, which some voters in Europe’s largest economy see as being out of control.
Even though the overall numbers have been falling for several years, many Germans blame migration-related fears for the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the second largest party in Parliament.
Many experts say that migration levels are mainly driven by economic and humanitarian emergencies in the source countries, with the official cold shoulder in destination countries having had little impact in deterring migrants.
Despite this, German officials suggest that sea rescues only incentivise people to risk the sometimes deadly crossings.
“The (government) support made possible extra missions and very concretely saved lives,” said Mr Gorden Isler, Sea-Eye’s chairman. “We might now have to stay in harbour despite emergencies.”
The opposition Greens, who controlled the foreign office when the subsidies were introduced, criticised the move.
“This will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and deepen human suffering,” said joint floor leader Britta Hasselmann. REUTERS
