In an old video, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was seen saying that the Islamic culture might not align entirely with the values of European civilisation due to a “compatibility problem”. She had also said that Sharia Law mentions only the capital punishment for apostates and homosexuals, and the European countries had never agreed with this idea. In the video, Prime Minister Meloni is heard stressing: “Sharia means lapidation for adultery and the death penalty for apostasy and homosexuality. I believe that these should be raised, which does not mean generalising on Islam. It means raising the problem that there is a process of Islamisation in Europe that is very distant from the values of our civilisation.” As the video resurfaced after an event held in the third week of December 2023, it has triggered a fresh controversy.

Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy Party organised the event in Rome on December 16, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attended the event. Speaking at the event, the British Prime Minister expressed serious concern over the plight of refugees stuck in Tunisia. He said that Britain and Italy would jointly sponsor the return of the refugees to their respective countries. “If we do not tackle this problem, the numbers will only grow. It will overwhelm our countries and our capacity to help those who actually need our help the most,” Sunak told the audience. He stated: “Making that deterrent credible will mean doing things differently, breaking from consensus. And both Giorgia and I are prepared to do that.“

As expected, Prime Minister Sunak backed his Italian counterpart’s approach to migration during his recent visit to Rome. It may be noted that the British Prime Minister’s own controversial plan to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda is still facing numerous legal challenges and criticism for being inhumane. Meloni, too, has been criticised for her efforts to restrict the operations of charity rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea. Later, the two leaders held talks with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to discuss the issue of migration.

The old video of Prime Minister Meloni went viral at the end of this programme. She is heard saying in this viral video: “I believe there is a problem of compatibility between Islamic culture or a certain interpretation of Islamic culture and the rights and values of our civilisation.” She made clear that Italy would never implement the Sharia Law. Meloni also opposed the financial backing of Islamic Cultural Centres in her country, stressing: “The Islamic Cultural Centres in Italy are financed by Saudi Arabia, where Sharia is in force. In Europe, the Islamisation process is distant from the values of our civilisation.“

It may be noted that the video, which dates back to February 2018, was shot before Meloni became the Prime Minister of Italy. Those, who recently shared the clip, claimed that Prime Minister Meloni issued the statement about Islam‘s incompatibility and the rejection of Sharia in Italy at the recently held event.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das