“If I said ‘this is the chain of command‘, one would think that I am accusing this or that”. Thus the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosiin a hearing before the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the Chamber on the programmatic lines of the dicastery, answering a question, in fact without answering on the merits, of Elly Schlein who asked him which ministerial structure decides who to intervene between the Guardia di Finanza and the Coast Guard. “In the maritime rescue coordination sector there is an overlap between law enforcement functions and Sar operation, where the first qualification, in this case is due to a Frontex structure, occurs according to how the event presents itself”, he explains the minister, emphasizing that in this case Frontex “besides having said that there was visibility of only one person on deck, while considering that there is also thermal detection, declared that there were good seaworthiness“. “The episode, although it was a very dangerous crossing, it was a dramatic and tragic event, but entirely contingent on the arrival, with a shoal a few hundred meters from the shoreline which caused the boat to run aground”. “So – he continues – I am very reluctant” to say what the chain of command is “then maybe I will do it in writing”. Again emphasizing that it is “a very complex system” with “also horizontal competences”, Piantedosi continues: “We would be short-sighted if we did not think that almost all these events foresee the connotation of irregular immigration event with an event that imposes, where there are preconditions, rescue”. Indirectly answering those who wonder why the Coast Guard has not been activated, Piantedosi continues: “There have been events in which the management of transhipment has also become tragic, so I would say to trust the professional assessment of whoever is in charge of doing this job ”.
