Germany is cutting financial support for open borders activists that rescue illegal migrants at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean, saying it will redirect resources to addressing conditions in source countries that spur people to leave.
For decades, illegal migrants driven by war and poverty have made perilous crossings to reach Europe's southern borders, with thousands estimated to die every year in their bid to reach a continent grown increasingly hostile to illegal migration.
"Germany is committed to being humane and will help where people suffer but I don't think it's the foreign office's job to finance this kind of sea rescue," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a news conference.
"We need to be active where the need is greatest," he added, mentioning the humanitarian emergency in war-shattered Sudan.
Under the previous leftist government, Germany began paying around €2 million ($2.34 million) annually to open borders activists carrying out rescues of illegal migrant-laden boats in trouble at sea.
For them, it has been a key source of funds: Germany's Sea-Eye, which said "rescue charities" have "saved" 175,000 lives since 2015, received around 10 per cent of its total income of around €3.2 million from the German government.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives won February's national election after a campaign promising to curb illegal migration, which some voters in Europe's largest economy see as being out of control.
Many experts say that illegal migration levels are mainly driven by economic and humanitarian emergencies in the source countries, with the official cold shoulder in destination countries having had little impact in deterring illegal migrants.
Despite this, German officials suggest that sea rescues only incentivise people to risk the sometimes deadly crossings.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; editing by Mark Heinrich)
