page_title: Matteo Salvini
section_title: Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister (2018–2019)
hierarchical_section_title: Matteo Salvini / Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister (2018–2019)
caption_attribution_description: Vice President Mike Pence meets with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of Italy in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Monday June 17, 2019 (Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen)
context_page_description: Matteo Salvini is an Italian politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of the Interior from 1 June 2018 to 5 September 2019. He has also been Federal Secretary of the Northern League since December 2013. He has been a Senator in the Italian Senate since March 2018. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for the constituency of North-West Italy from 2004 to 2018.
  He has been considered a hardline Eurosceptic politician, holding a starkly critical view of the European Union, especially of the euro and Islam. Salvini opposes illegal immigration into Italy and the EU as well as the EU's management of asylum seekers. He is also considered one of the main leaders of the populist wave which shook Europe during the 2010s and a member of the neo-nationalist movement, which has a rightist ideology that emphasizes de-globalization, nativist and protectionist stances.
  Salvini is nicknamed "The Captain" by his supporters.
context_section_description: On 1 June 2018, Matteo Salvini was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior. He immediately stated that his main aim was to drastically reduce the number of illegal immigrants to Italy. Early in his tenure, numerous media outlets noted that despite Salvini's junior status in the governing coalition, he placed himself in a role even more dominant than Conte and appeared to set Italy's agenda. The media also noted Salvini's "savvy social media presence."
  Days after taking his oath, the new Interior Minister created a diplomatic incident with Tunisia, stating that the country sent Italy only convicts who came to Europe with the sole aim of committing crimes. The Tunisian government expressed "profound amazement at the remarks of the Italian interior minister regarding immigration."
  On 10 June 2018, Salvini announced the closure of Italian ports, stating that "Everyone in Europe is doing their own business, now Italy is also raising its head. Let's stop the business of illegal immigration." The vessel Aquarius, which is operated jointly by Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS Méditerranée and carried more than 600 migrants, was refused a port of disembarkation by the Italian authorities despite having been told to rescue the migrants by the same co-ordination centre. The Italian authority told the vessel to ask Malta to provide a disembarkation port, but Malta has also refused. On the following day, the new Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accepted the disputed migrant ship.
  On 16 June 2018, Matteo Salvini said, "These people should know that Italy no longer wants to be any part of this business of clandestine immigration and they will have to look for other ports to go to", "As minister and as a father, I take this action for the benefit of all". On 18 June 2018, Salvini announced the government would conduct a census of Romani people in Italy for the purpose of deporting all who are not in the country legally. However, this measure was criticized as unconstitutional and was opposed by all the opposition parties and also by some members of the M5S.
  On 19 June 2018, Salvini announced his intention to conduct a compulsive racial census of Italians to register Roma people, while stating that Roma who are Italians could "unfortunately" not be deported. This caused an outcry in Italy since racial registration is forbidden by the Italian constitution. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte forced Salvini to drop the proposal. The opposition leader Matteo Orfini reacted by suggesting Salvini should rather do a "census of racists and fascists".
  On 24 September 2018, the Council of Ministers approved the so-called "Salvini Decree", which contained a series of hardline measures that abolished key forms of protection for migrants and made it easier for them to be deported. The decree also suspended the refugee application process of those who were considered "socially dangerous" or who had been convicted of a crime.
  On 12 June 2019, the Sea Watch 3 ship picked up 53 migrants in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. Sea Watch 3 rejected an offer to dock at Tripoli, which is considered unsafe by humanitarian organizations, and headed toward Lampedusa. According to a report by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and NGOs this was the nearest safe harbor per maritime law. On 14 June, Italy closed its ports to migrant rescue ships. Salvini refused to allow the ship to dock until other European nations had agreed to take the migrants. Ten of the migrants, including children, pregnant women, and those who were ill, were allowed to disembark. On 29 June, without authorization, ship's captain Carola Rackete decided to dock. The motivation for this was that according to her the passengers were exhausted. Rackete was arrested by the Italian authorities after docking. Matteo Salvini accused Rackete of trying to sink an Italian patrol boat that was attempting to intercept her, calling the incident an act of war and demanding the Netherlands government intervention. However, on 2 July, Rackete was released from house arrest after a court
caption: Salvini with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, in 2019
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