France, Malta to take in 50 migrants

FRANCE and Malta have agreed to take 50 migrants each out of 450 stranded at sea on two EU border agency vessels, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Saturday after pressing his European peers to keep their promise to share the burden.

“France and Malta will respectively take 50 migrants each . . . other countries will follow very quickly,” Conte said on his Facebook page.

Earlier on Saturday, Italy and Malta were at loggerheads again over whose responsibility it was to offer the 450 migrants on board the two EU Frontex vessels a safe harbour.

‘A clear sign’

Conte said that he had spent the day in contact with his 27 EU peers, reminding them that they had agreed at their end of June summit on the need to share the burden of dealing with the migrant influx.

In a letter addressed to European Commission head JeanClaude Juncker and EU President Donald Tusk, Conte demanded others should help and not leave Italy in the lurch.

“In this context, which always sees Italy at the frontline of saving lives at sea, I ask you for a clear sign on sharing the responsibility of managing the migrant issue and to envisage the possibility of a port taking in, or to take charge of some of the 450 migrants picked up,” he said.

There was no immediate confirmation from the French.