France says Italy’s ban on migrant charity ship is ‘unacceptable’

By Angelo Amante and Elizabeth Pineau

ROME/PARIS (Reuters) -France on Wednesday criticised Italy’s refusal to let a charity ship carrying over 200 migrants dock in its ports, as the two countries disagreed on where they should disembark.

The Ocean Viking vessel has been at sea for more than two weeks since its first rescue in the central Mediterranean and it said on Tuesday it would now head to France, hoping to find a berth there after Italy refused access to its ports.

Also on Tuesday, Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “appreciation” for what she called “France’s decision” to share responsibility for the migrants and open its ports to the ship.

France, however, said that while talks were ongoing no such decision has been taken, and urged Italy to allow the boat to dock in one of its ports.

“The boat is currently in Italian territorial waters. European rules are very clear … this boat is destined to be welcomed in Italy,” government spokesperson Olivier Veran told franceinfo radio in the morning, saying Italy’s attitude was “unacceptable.”

A member of Meloni’s staff later quoted her as telling her Brothers of Italy party lawmakers that Rome was right in blocking the ship at sea.

“The Italian government is complying with all international conventions,” Meloni said, adding that Italy’s refusal was justified by the fact that “these are not shipwrecked persons but migrants”.

The European Commission later waded into the dispute, calling for the “immediate disembarkation at the nearest place of safety”, of all those aboard the Ocean Viking. At present, the boat remains closer to Italy than to France.

A source at SOS Mediterranee, the charity group operating the Ocean Viking, said they were planning to reach the French island of Corsica on Thursday and they were ready to head to Marseille if they were not allowed to disembark there.

Local authorities in both Corsica and Marseille said they were willing to welcome the boat – but that would also require the green light from national authorities. It was not yet clear where the ship would eventually dock.

“It could still happen in Italy since the ship will pass Sardinia on its way to France,” SOS Mediterranee chief Sophie Beau told BFM TV.

A total of four charity ships carrying around 1,000 migrants had been stuck off Italy in recent days, with the government urging flag states Germany and Norway to take charge of them.

Two of the boats disembarked on Tuesday in the city of Catania, in Sicily, after the government initially allowed ashore only those it said were vulnerable. A third smaller vessel was allowed to dock in the southern port of Reggio Calabria.

Meloni appeared to criticize the health authorities’ decision to let all these migrants disembark, calling it “bizarre”.

Italy has seen a sharp increase in migrant landings this year, with almost 88,700 people arriving so far in 2022, compared with 56,500 in the same period last year. Around 15% were picked up by charity vessels.

(Additional reporting by Alvise Armellini, Myriam Rivet and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Writing by Angelo Amante and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Crispian Balmer)