Danmarks integrations- og udviklingsminister Søren Pind (V) langer nu voldsomt ud efter Europarådets menneskerettighedskommissær Thomas Hammarberg.
Det sker, fordi Thomas Hammarberg i dag kritiserer Danmark og en række andre EU-lande for i bekymrende omfang at lade Italien i stikken, når det gælder håndteringen af de 25.000 nordafrikanske flygtninge, der i den seneste tid er ankommet til den syditalienske ø Lampedusa.
Her tøver EU-landene med at hjælpe, fordi de »frygter reaktionen fra partier på den yderste højrefløj«, siger den svenske menneskerettighedskommissær."
"The developments in North Africa have demonstrated how badly the EU’s common asylum system works in practice. There are deep divisions among Member States in the approach towards asylum issues. The EU rules on asylum are however currently being revised. But instead of committing to action and improving the system, the negotiation has come to a halt as a result of the reluctance of Europe’s rightwing government’s. When criticism is directed against them for their inertia they try to shift the blame. The Danish Conservative Integration Minister Soren Pind recently called the Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg an idiot when Hammarberg deplored the unwillingness of Denmark and other countries to act on Lampedusa and that it bears witness to a sort of moral decay in the political structures of the countries."