Italy slams 'aggressive' France, warns against escalating migrant row

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned what she called the "aggressive reaction" of the French government to taking in a migrant rescue vessel rejected by Rome.

She told a press conference on Friday that it was "incomprehensible and unjustified", after Paris said it would accept the Ocean Viking and the 234 migrants onboard, but suspend a previous plan to take in 3,500 refugees currently in Italy.

Earlier a a close aide to Meloni warned France against escalating tensions by limiting Rome's access to the European Union's post-pandemic recovery funds.

"I hope they are not referring to the EU post-pandemic funds," as any such action would be "very serious", Giovanbattista Fazzolari, undersecretary for the implementation of the government program, was quoted as saying by Italy’s Corriere Della Sera daily.

Fazzolari stressed that Italy demands "only respect" after French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the migration row between Rome and Paris would have "extremely strong consequences for the bilateral relationship.”

Italy is entitled to more than €200 billion in cheap loans and grants under the EU’s €800 billion recovery fund adopted in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, being the biggest beneficiary among the EU-27 nations of the so-called European Recovery And Resilience Fund (PNRR).

The French government on Thursday agreed to welcome the charity-run Ocean Viking rescue boat into one of its ports following Italy’s refusal to let it dock on its territory with more than 200 migrants on board.

Darmanin censured the right-wing Italian government's ban on the charity vessel, which had been stuck off Sicily for days, as "reprehensible" and "selfish.”

France warns Italy of 'severe consequences' for rejecting migrants

The question of how to handle migration in the largely border-free European Union has been a bone of contention for years.

“France decided on an exceptional basis to make up for the Italian government’s unacceptable behavior and to invite the ship to come,” Darmanin said. “France deeply regrets that Italy has decided not to behave like a responsible European state in dealing with this matter.”

Italian authorities dismissed the criticism, saying the French reaction underscored Europe's failure to deal with a rising number of migrants, many of whom reach the continent via boats from North Africa.

The Ocean Viking, carrying 234 passengers, including around 60 children and 20 sick people, docked in the southern French city of Toulon on Friday. About a third of the passengers will remain in France, while another third will go on to Germany. 

The French-Italian feud is the latest episode in a European standoff over where to disembark refugees picked up after trying to reach Europe from North Africa.

The embattled French president Emmanuel Macron’s government now faces an increasingly assertive far-right led by Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National that has been highly critical of the incumbent government's handling of migration. 

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