Italy foreign minister: sea rescue charities cannot be magnets for migrants

Sea rescue charities operating in the Mediterranean cannot be "magnets" attracting migrants to Europe, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday.

"Nobody is waging a war against NGOs, we only say that they cannot (...) act as a sort of magnet to attract irregular migrants", Tajani said during a presser in Berlin with his counterpart Annalena Baerbock.

This week Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has written to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz telling him she learned with "astonishment" of a German government initiative to finance migrant charity groups operating in the Mediterranean and in Italy. (Writing by Francesca Piscioneri, editing by Alvise Armellini)