Salvini says he defended Italy by blocking migrants

Bloomberg

Matteo Salvini insisted that he defended Italy by refusing to let stranded migrants enter the country when he was interior minister, as parliament prepares to vote this week on whether he should be prosecuted.
“It’s crazy, I don’t know how much it costs in terms of men and money to show I’m a criminal, but I’m not afraid and I’ll explain in court that I defended my country,” Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant League party, told newspaper La Stampa.
The full chamber of the Senate will vote on Wednesday on whether Salvini should face prosecution for kidnapping for refusing to allow a coast guard ship that had rescued 131 migrants crossing the Mediterranean to dock in Sicily in July.
Salvini says he was applying government policy and waiting for other EU countries to accept the migrants.
A Senate panel voted last month to allow prosecution in a non-binding decision. Parties in Premier Giuseppe Conte’s ruling coalition are expected to vote for prosecution to go ahead.
Asked by La Stampa whether he was jealous of a trip by his right-wing ally Giorgia Meloni, of the Brothers of Italy party, to Washington and whether he saw her as a dangerous competitor, Salvini replied: “Everyone is entitled to their own path and their trips.”