Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is of the view that there lies a “compatibility problem” between Islamic culture and the values and rights of European civilisation. Meloni was heard making this remark during an event organised by her right-wing, ultra-conservative Brothers of Italy party, which also had UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and billionaire Elon Musk in attendance.
“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 said. “It does not escape my mind that most of the Islamic cultural centres in Italy are financed by Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia’s Sharia law which recognises apostasy and homosexuality as criminal offences were also subject to criticism by Meloni. Sharia law, commonly referred to as Islamic law, constitutes a set of principles and regulations rooted in the Quran and the Hadith, representing the foundational religious texts of Islam.
“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,” she said.
During his visit to Rome, Sunak backed Meloni’s migration approach. Sunak’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been met with a plethora of legal challenges and accusations of inhumane treatment. Meloni, on the other hand, has drawn flak for her attempts to limit the activities of charity rescue ships operating in the Mediterranean Sea.
“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,” he said. “Making that deterrent credible will mean doing things differently, breaking from consensus. And both Giorgia and I are prepared to do that.”
The two leaders also met Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to discuss migration.
NE Watch Desk
