The French government denounced Tuesday evening November 8 the “unacceptable behavior” Italian authorities who refuse to allow the ship to dock Ocean Viking, which lies off Sicily, with 234 migrants on board.
The attitude of the Italian authorities is “contrary to the law of the sea and the spirit of European solidarity”said a French government source. “We expect something different from a country which is today the first beneficiary of the European solidarity mechanism”added this source.
Earlier in the evening, the new far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had thanked France which, according to her, was agreeing to host theOcean Viking in one of its ports.
“Silence of Italy”
“We want to say how much we appreciate France’s decision to take its share of responsibility for the migratory emergency, which until now has rested on the shoulders of Italy and a few other Mediterranean countries, by opening its ports to ship Ocean Viking » said Giorgia Meloni in a statement.
According to Time.news, an Italian news agency, the matter was settled between the Italian leader and French President Emmanuel Macron during COP27 in Egypt. In Paris, the French Ministry of the Interior clarified that the ship is ” for the moment “ in the “Italian waters”, “until Wednesday noon at least”.
Earlier in the day on Tuesday, the NGO SOS Méditerranée had asked France to assign a safe port for the disembarkation of the 234 migrants, stranded on board the boat for 18 days. “We are in a total impasse in the face of Italy’s silence”explained the director of SOS Méditerranée, Sophie Beau.