Italy summons French envoy as migration row escalates

ROME: Italy summoned France’s envoy and angrily rejected French criticism of its immigration policies on Wednesday, escalating a diplomatic standoff between the neighbouring European powers.

Italy’s economy minister, Giovanni Tria, also cancelled a meeting with his counterpart in Paris, a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said Rome had acted with “cynicism and irresponsibility” by closing its ports to migrants.

“We have nothing to learn about generosity, voluntarism, welcoming, and solidarity from anyone,” Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, told the Senate.

Criticism

Salvini, who is also deputy premier and the leader of the antiimmigrant League party, called on France to apologise and said he was not prepared to take criticism from a country which regularly stopped migrants on their shared border.

The row is centred on the charity ship Aquarius, which both Italy and Malta refused to let dock at their ports. It was carrying 629 migrants and is now heading to Spain, escorted by two Italian ships.

The case touched on one of the main faultlines in European politics - how to share the responsibility of handling migrants trying to get into the bloc from war zones and poor countries, largely across Africa and the Middle East.

Full story @ timesofoman.com/world