Because the M5s abstained from voting in Europe on open ports

PHILIPP VON DITFURTH / DPA / DPA PICTURE-ALLIANCE

A resolution on open ports rejected by just two votes, with the decisive abstention of the 5 Star Movement, despite the adoption of one of its amendments to introduce an automatic and mandatory mechanism for migrants rescued at sea: yesterday's vote in the European Parliament, with the split between the progressive camp and the block formed by the European People's Party, the sovereign group of Identity and Democracy and the Conservatives, risks having serious repercussions on the Commission's plans Ursula von der Leyen to reform the EU's migration policy, but has already caused an internal clash in the government majority in Italy.

The resolutions on operations in the Mediterranean

The texts presented by the right to promote the model of Europe fortress do not pass. Then the vote begins on the amendments to a resolution already adopted by the Public Freedom Committee after the hearing of Carola Rackete, the Sea Watch captain whose deputies reserved a standing ovation just three weeks ago. The text has the support of Socialists & Democrats, liberals from Renew Europe, the Greens and the extreme left of the GUE. The M5s also seems to support it, after the presentation of three common amendments with the Socialists and the Greens. But at the time of the final vote the pentastellars abstain. Result: 290 votes in favor, 288 against and 36 abstentions. And the European Parliament rejects the resolution on open ports.

Laura Ferrara of the M5s immediately denounced an "umpteenth missed opportunity". The pentastellars had "presented amendments which restored concreteness and ambition to an otherwise vague and polarized text. These amendments did not find the support of the majority, hence our abstention", he explained. In fact, the first M5s amendment had been approved: the request for a relocation mechanism among the member states of all migrants saved at sea. A second amendment, linked to humanitarian runners but of little relevance, had actually been rejected. The third M5s amendment concerned open ports and was not put to the vote because it was superseded by another text.

The M5s document called upon "Member States to maintain their ports open to NGO vessels engaged in search and rescue operations in line with relevant international conventions and other applicable rules". Shortly before, another amendment was submitted by the Liberals of Renew Europe which made the M5s decay. In essence, open questions were asked in all circumstances for the shipwrecked: Member States must "keep their ports open to ships, including NGO ships, who carried out rescue operations and intend to disembark passengers ". The difference appears minimal, but in reality it is substantial, at least for the M5s.

On Wednesday evening Laura Ferrara had pointed out that the passage on "other applicable rules" was a reference to "national laws applicable to different cases". In the case of Italy, national laws are the security decrees of Matteo Salvini, which authorize the closure of ports. Verdi and Socialists, who had co-signed the text of the M5s, found themselves embarrassed when some Italian media started talking about "anti-Carola amendment".

For the League an anti-Salvini text

Beyond the interpretations, the League and the extreme right at the European Parliament celebrate, as does a substantial part of the EPP. The resolution "was essentially an anti-Salvini text and pro traffickers of death at sea", said the president of the Identity and Democracy group, Marco Zanni, claiming the "decisive position of the League". For the von der Leyen Commission it will be difficult, after this vote, to propose a Dublin reform focused on solidarity with migrants and between Member States.

But the immediate implications are felt especially in Rome. "The abstention of the M5S today at the resolution on migrants then rejected by the European Parliament, signals a very significant problem. I do not believe that it is possible to build an alliance with a movement that has a position substantially very similar to Salvini," said the president of Pd senators, Andrea Marcucci. The abstention of the M5s is "incomprehensible and in any case serious", the senator reacts Loredana De Petris, president of the Misto group. Second Nicola Danti, Italy Viva MEP, the 5s "once again demonstrate their continuity with the previous government with the League".

The hardest against the M5s is the doctor from Lampedusa, the MEP of the PD Pietro Bartolo. "Their was a low blow, especially against those people who risk everything to look for a more dignified life. I applied for the Europeans to continue doing what I have always done from the Lampedusa pier", says Bartolo: " being on the weaker side ". Instead, "we wear white shirts, we have full bellies, we travel in business class. And we allow ourselves to play like this on people's skin".

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