Italy paid African migrants £500 to leave the country... and go to Germany

Refugees from Libya, Ghana and Togo offered the money as incentive

Swathes of asylum seekers arrived by boat in Italy since Arab spring

300 refugees have set up a camp behind Bismarck monument in Hamburg

Hundreds of African migrants were paid Euro 500 to leave Italy, it is claimed.



The Italian authorities offered the refugees from Libya, Ghana and Togo the money as an inducement to go to Germany, according to a letter from the Interior Ministry in Berlin.

‘Refugees were slipped the money under the advice that they would go to Germany,’ said the letter addressed to refugee advisors and seen by Die Welt newspaper.

A boat loaded with migrants is spotted at sea off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, in 2011. But swathes of asylum seekers have arrived by boat in Italy since the beginning of the Arab Spring

Swathes of asylum seekers have arrived by boat in Italy since the beginning of the Arab Spring.



Hundreds arrive by boat every month on Lampedusa an Italian-governed island just off the coast of Africa, before being transferred to temporary accommodation on the mainland.

As EU funding for the temporary housing has dried up, Italy has been keen for its northern European neighbours to share the burden. The golden handshake of Euro 500 was introduced by the government as an incentive for migrants to leave emergency camps.



But the presence of 300 refugees who have set up a make-shift camp behind the Bismarck monument in Hamburg has infuriated Germany.

North African immigrant children escape a detention centre on the small Italian island of Lampedusa. It has been claimed migrants were paid Euro 500 to leave Italy

Although the refugees have no right to work or state support in Germany, Italy seems to have issued them with temporary passes to travel within the Schengen zone free travel area.

'They have no legal right to accommodation or state support and it would be irresponsible to give them false hope,' Hamburg Social Affairs Minister Detlef Scheele, told Die Welt.

'There is no alternative other than for them to go where they can work and have the legal right to reside, be it Italy or their home country' he added.

Hundreds arrive by boat every month. The golden handshake of Euro 500 was introduced by the government as an incentive for migrants to leave emergency camps

Bavarian Minister Joachim Hermann has denounced Italy’s actions as ‘shameless’.



The Italian Ministry for the Interior insisted the refugees, who have Italian residence permits have the right under Schengen to go to Germany for three months. It is then the responsibility of Germany to send them back, it said.

