France-Italy row over migrant ship escalates

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hit back at France on Friday in a dispute over who should be responsible for taking in migrants rescued at sea.

"I was struck by the aggressive reaction from the French government which from my point of view is incomprehensible and unjustified," Meloni told a news conference, adding that Italy could not be the only destination for migrants arriving from Africa.

Meloni added that Italy has taken in almost 90,000 migrants at its ports this year alone, and that the EU needs to bolster its borders. 

On Thursday, France announced it will take in a migrant ship stranded off the Italian coast in the Mediterranean Sea with 234 migrants on board, after Rome refused to allow the NGO rescue ship to dock.

The ship, the "Ocean Viking," docked on Friday at a military port in Toulon, southern France. 

More than 50 children on board Ocean Viking

Among the migrants on board the Ocean Viking ship were 57 children. All the passengers have been granted permission by the French government to disembark in Toulon, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a press conference on Thursday.

In return, however, he said Paris intended to halt a previous plan to take in 3,500 refugees currently in Italy, and urged other EU nations to do the same.

He sharply criticized Italy for refusing to take the migrants in, describing Rome's actions as "incomprehensible" and "selfish."

jsi/wmr (Reuters, AFP)