The German government is giving financial aid to three humanitarian organizations providing aid for migrants in Italy, news agency dpa reported Wednesday (October 4) citing a spokeswoman for the German Foreign Office.

Two of the three NGOs are the German sea rescue groups SOS Humanity and Sea-Eye, according to the spokeswoman. The other one is the Italian Christian community Sant'Egidio.

A total of €2 million in German government funding is available in 2023 via the Foreign Office for groups providing care for migrants who attempt the dangerous boat crossing to Italy via the Mediterranean.

A total of €1.15 million will be disbursed to migrant rescue NGOs Sea-Eye and SOS Humanity. Germany-based NGO Sea-Eye, which operates the Sea-Eye 4 search-and-rescue vessel in the Central Mediterranean Sea, received the first €50,000 of a confirmed total of €365,000 on Thursday, Sea-Eye chairman Gorden Isler told InfoMigrants.

According to Isler, who said the earmarked funds need to be spent on the two forthcoming rescue missions, said the financial support sends an "important signal to critics of sea rescue and to right-wing governments."

"It shows that there is agreement in the German government that we must not let people drown," he told InfoMigrants. "It also shows that sea rescue is a responsibility under international law that must be carried out by civilian actors until EU member states accept this responsibility again."

The news about the German government supporting migrant aid organizations comes as ambassadors from the European Union's 27 states on Wednesday reached an agreement on reforms to migration policy.

Support no solution for 'humanitarian crisis'

The other sea rescue charity the German Foreign Office supports is Berlin-based SOS Humanity, whose spokesperson told InfoMigrants it will receive €790,000.

"This sum we will be receiving is only a smaller part of our annual budget for our operational search and rescue missions," a SOS Humanity spokeswoman said. "We are and will be politically fully independent, and we will continue to criticize the EU and the German government for the inhumane migration politics at the EU external borders."

Echoing Sea-Eye's Isler statement, the SOS Humanity spokeswoman added that the "humanitarian crisis" in the Mediterranean requires a "state-led European search and rescue program."

According to dpa, Christian community Sant'Egidio, known for organizing the 'humanitarian corridors' initiative that allow refugees to reach Italy safely, is to receive between €300,000 and €800,000 for the care of rescued persons on shore.

In November 2022, the German parliament, the Bundestag, decided that the German government coalition will support sea rescue in the Mediterranean with a total of €8 million, distributed over four years.

More than 22,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea over the past ten years, according to the Missing Migrants Project.

Support draws ire of Italy's far-right government

Germany's financial support for migrant rescue groups has been angering Italy's far-right government, which has sought to crack down on migration and accuses Berlin of interfering in domestic Italian affairs -- especially as the funding also covers aid for migrants on Italian soil.

Last week, it became known that Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sent a letter of complaint to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in protest of the German government's plans to finance the three NGOs.

Since Meloni and her government were sworn in in October 2022, a series of decrees and laws have made it more difficult for charities to conduct rescue missions in the Central Mediterranean.

One of the new laws requires humanitarian rescue ships to head to port immediately after just one rescue mission, even if it means foregoing additional rescue operations of people in the immediate vicinity.

Since the law was passed earlier this year, impounding NGO vessels has become a regular occurrence. The Sea-Eye 4 was the latest victim when Italian authorities grounded the vessel for around two weeks starting in late August.

Previously, the migrant rescue ships carried out multiple rescue operations over several days or even weeks

Payments controversy is making waves

According to dpa, the payments to the charities also strained European Union negotiations over reforms to the European asylum system. However, a breakthrough on a key element, the so-called crisis regulation, was achieved on Wednesday.

The German government's position is that rescuing people in distress at sea and saving lives from drowning at any time and in any place is "a legal humanitarian and moral duty," the Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

The support even sparked the attention of tech billionaire and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, who asked whether the German public was aware of the support on his platform late last week.

The German Foreign Office replied to Musk publicly, saying: "Yes. And it's called saving lives."

Read more: Sant'Egidio Community calls for 'supporting young migrants'

with dpa