Italy summons French envoy in row over refugee ship

The Foreign Ministry of Italy has summoned France’s ambassador amid a diplomatic row between the two countries over the handling of a stranded ship in the Mediterranean with hundreds of refugees on board.

According to diplomatic sources, French Ambassador Christian Masset is due to report to the Italian Foreign Ministry at 0800 GMT on Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Italy of “irresponsibility” on Tuesday after Rome declined to open its ports to an NGO Aquarius ship carrying more than 600 refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.

In a swift reaction to Macron’s accusation, Italy’s new populist administration censured what it referred to as “hypocritical lessons” from countries such as France on refugees.

“The statements concerning (the humanitarian ship) Aquarius that come from France are surprising... Italy cannot accept hypocritical lessons from countries that have preferred to look the other way on immigration,” said the Italian government in a Tuesday statement.

Spain eventually offered to take in the ship with all the 629 refugees aboard — which included pregnant women and scores of children — after Italy and Malta refused to let the ship dock, as an NGO raised fears for their safety due to deteriorating weather conditions.

The refugees saved by the Aquarius, run by French NGO SOS Mediterranee, were stuck on the overloaded ship for over 30 hours as Italy and Malta argued over who should take them before Spain intervened and offered its port in Valencia as a place for the asylum seekers to land in Europe.

Aid workers had warned that fresh food and drinks supplied by the Maltese navy to the Aquarius on Monday would only last until Tuesday.

SS