Wanderlust

Tag: Italy

  • Matteo Salvini: Inner minister’s claims about immigration

    A migrant in the Italian port of Salerno. Image copyright Getty Images

    Claim: Italy is taking in loads of heaps of “non-refugees”.

    Verdict: Thousands of recent migrants have arrived in Italy in up to date years, which is the primary destination for migrants achieving Europe from Africa. It Is difficult to grasp how many of them are refugees because asylum applications can take years to resolve.

    Italy’s internal minister and chief of the appropriate-wing League party Matteo Salvini has been talking so much about unlawful immigration.

    the new coalition executive desires to deport part one million undocumented migrants currently dwelling in Italy.

    Mr Salvini mentioned on Twitter on 4 June “the touchdown and taking in of masses of hundreds of ‘non-refugees’ can’t proceed to be an exclusively Italian issue”.

    Italy has gained a large selection of migrants in contemporary years.

    About ONE HUNDRED TWENTY,000 arrived through sea in 2017 – double the quantity in Greece and Spain combined.

    but the collection of arrivals in Italy has now not been high simplest in latest years, but for at least a decade.

    While the refugee main issue peaked in 2015, with greater than a million arriving within the EUROPEAN, all eyes had been on Greece the place greater than 800,000 folks arrived. In that same year, Italy gained 154,000 other people.

    IN THE 10 years earlier than that top, a complete of more than 260,000 arrived in Italy, according to United Nations Prime Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption Matteo Salvini, Italy’s new inside minister

    In 2016, the ecu and Turkey reached a deal which stopped the float of people, lots of them Syrian refugees, into Greece. The number of migrants fell by means of NINETY SEVEN% shortly after the introduction of the deal. however it didn’t stop the arrivals from Africa into Italy via the Mediterranean.

    An settlement struck in 2017 through the eu, Italy and Libya to train Libyan government to intercept boats wearing migrants has lowered the choice of arrivals. Because then heaps of migrants have been detained within the North African country.

    So a ways in 2018, Italy, Greece and Spain all gained a similar collection of migrants – among ELEVEN,000 and THIRTEEN,000, in step with the UNHCR.

    what number of are refugees?

    Every Other League birthday party official, Massimiliano Da Federiga, has questioned what number of migrants are refugees. He stated that the people arriving in Italy are not escaping conflict, they are “chasing a Western dream. Those are empirical details.”

    Refugee programs take time to process so it is not always easy to know what number of of the heaps of recent arrivals may have their asylum packages approved.

    Asylum is granted to folks in accordance with other criteria, including those fleeing battle and different kinds of persecution.

    People leaving international locations that are not at war may still have a sound reason to assert refugee standing. Assessment is made on a case-through-case basis upon arrival.

    Out of the EIGHTY,000 programs made in Italy in 2017, 40% had been a hit.

    Such A Lot migrants got here from Nigeria, followed via Guinea and Ivory Coast.

    The Highest 10 international locations of origin had been all African aside from Bangladesh.

    Here Is the whole listing:

    Nigeria

    Guinea

    Ivory Coast

    Bangladesh

    Mali

    Eritrea

    Sudan

    Tunisia

    Morocco

    Senegal

    Gambia

    Additional research by way of Laura Gozzi

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  • Italy migrants: WHO IS liable for serving to out at sea?

    Migrants on rubber boat Image copyright AFP Symbol caption The migrants were rescued from inflatable boats off the coast of Libya

    Italy’s decision in June not to accept the rescue vessel Aquarius with greater than SIX HUNDRED migrants on board attracted standard criticism on humanitarian grounds.

    Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat stated Italy had damaged international rules, and the plight of the Aquarius ended in a diplomatic row among Italy and France.

    Italy’s proper-wing Inner Minister Matteo Salvini stated that although rescuing lives is an obligation, “reworking Italy into a vast refugee camp is not”.

    The ship was once ultimately diverted to Spain.

    So who has the legal responsibility for vessels at sea carrying migrants?

    Symbol copyright EPA Symbol caption Italy did permit one in all its own coastguard vessels to carry migrants to Sicily

    There Is also the 1979 Global Convention on Maritime Seek and Rescue, which establishes a criminal framework for signatories to co-ordinate rescue efforts.

    According to the International Maritime Group, which helped prepare some of the foundations in the back of rescue at sea, its member states even have an obligation “to co-ordinate so that persons rescued at sea are disembarked in a place of safety as soon as conceivable”.

    A query of definitions

    However, there are a host of issues.

    One drawback is over defining misery, in line with Yves Pascouau, editor of the eu Migration Law web site. which gives recommendation on asylum and immigration regulation around the ECU.

    “that is a matter of interpretation,” he says.

    The Aquarius was no longer in evident mechanical issue as it approached Maltese and Italian waters and he provides: “They (Italy and Malta) didn’t believe the definition of distress had been met.”

    in addition, the Maltese authorities had provided a few meals and water to those on board.

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  • Italy accuses migrants of hijacking rescue send off Libya

    Migrants disembark Italian coast guard vessel Image copyright Reuters Image caption The migrants eventually ended up on the coastguard send Diciotti, noticed in this June report picture

    Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has accused a few migrants of hijacking the ship that rescued them off the Libyan coast.

    It is claimed that during order to circumvent being lower back to Libya, a minimum of two passengers pressured the ship to show away from the inbound Libyan coastguard.

    The 67 passengers were in the end handed over to the Italian coastguard.

    Mr Salvini called two suspects “violent hijackers, who could have to get off the Diciotti ship in handcuffs”.

    Details of the incident stay unclear, but Italian media file that police boarded the coastguard vessel Diciotti to quiz its passengers.

    Mr Seehofer stated that following the assembly, he was once “slightly constructive”, while Mr Salvini known as it a “very certain assembly”.

  • Italy-France tensions flare as migrants head to Spain – The Globe and Mail

    Italy escalated its standoff with France over migration Wednesday, difficult Paris to take in more asylum-seekers and significant an apology after the French president accused the new populist Italian government of cynical, irresponsible behaviour via refusing access to a rescue ship with 600 folks aboard.

    Italy summoned the French ambassador for consultations and Inside Minister Matteo Salvini chided French President Emmanuel Macron via identify all the way through a speech ahead of Parliament ’s upper chamber.

    Salvini stated France had taken in just a fraction of the NINE,816 migrants it had pledged to welcome under a 2015 EUROPEAN relocation plan to relieve frontline countries Italy and Greece of the load of taking care of newly arrived migrants.

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    “So I ask President Macron to move from phrases to action and the next day to come morning welcome the 9,000 France promised to welcome as a sign of concrete generosity and not simply words,” Salvini said to applause in the Senate chamber.

    “I talk in the name of a government however I even have the ambition of speaking for a people who don’t have anything to be informed from any individual about generosity, volunteerism, welcome and harmony,” he mentioned.

    Italy has defended its determination to refuse to permit the Aquarius rescue ship to dock, saying it hasn’t ever deserted the send and is escorting it to Spain. Spain stepped up and presented the Aquarius protected harbour in Valencia after Italy and Malta each refused.

    The standoff over the Aquarius seemed a transparent tactic by Italy ’s new government to force Europe ’s hand on the upcoming summit of ECU leaders in Brussels June 28-29. Italy for years has complained that it has been left largely by myself to manage Europe ’s migrant difficulty, but the new govt says its tactics have finally gotten the purpose across.

    Salvini has accused European aid groups of necessarily running taxi services and products for Libya-based human traffickers, and has said Italy will now refuse their rescue ships access. Italian maritime vessels, alternatively, are nonetheless docking in its ports: on Wednesday, an Italian coast shield vessel docked in Catania, Sicily with 932 migrants aboard.

    The Diciotti was once greeted in Catania ’s port by activists criticizing the new coverage, with a banner draped on the port saying “Prevent the assault on refugees.”

    French President Emmanuel Macron had blasted what he called Italy ’s cynicism and irresponsibility in turning away the Aquarius, that is operated through the humanitarian staff SOS Mediterranee and the French-based Docs Without Borderlines.

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    Macron ’s place of job mentioned Tuesday that France doesn ’t wish to “get started a precedent” that will permit some Ecu countries to breach global rules and depend on different ECU member states to take in migrants.

    In his speech, Salvini shot again and said France had turned again 10,249 migrants at Italy ’s northern border since January “including women, youngsters and disabled people.” The border crossing element at Ventimiglia has been the scene of protests and desperation for years as France has refused to allow in migrants, lots of whom are looking for to achieve circle of relatives in France or Germany.

    Under the european ’s asylum regulations — currently the topic of revision amid a major political dispute — migrants must practice for asylum within the country where they first input Europe. In observe, this has positioned a heavy burden on Italy and Greece, the place masses of heaps of people have entered in recent years. A Few countries really feel justified in stopping migrants from coming into after they should have registered elsewhere.

    Salvini additionally demanded that France make excellent on its pledge to relocate migrants beneath a 2015 EUROPEAN scheme that by no means fully were given off the ground.

    France was to have regular a complete of 19,714 migrants from Italy and Greece; in all, it ordinary 4,677. AROUND THE Eu Union, just a 3rd of the NINETY EIGHT,255 migrants that were alleged to be relocated below the scheme have been relocated through the time it ended remaining 12 months.

    Salvini ’s League campaigned during the March 4 nationwide election on a powerful anti-migrant schedule that included guarantees of mass expulsions of migrants already here. according to government figures, Italy has conventional 640,000 migrants for the reason that 2014, however the selection of arrivals this year is at a 5-yr low: 14,441 since January.

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    The number of migrants arriving in Italy began plummeting last year after the Italian govt underneath the centre-left Democratic Celebration negotiated debatable offers with Libya that beefed up its capacity to raised patrol its coasts and discouraged land-primarily based smugglers.

    In Advance Wednesday, Salvini accused France of having led to the instability in Libya that has allowed smuggling networks to thrive through spearheading the 2011 NATO-led army marketing campaign that led to the downfall of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

    The Aquarius and Italian ships that have taken a few of the migrants at the moment are anticipated to arrive in Valencia on Saturday night time, weather conditions permitting, said SOS Mediterranee ’s co-founder Sophie Beau. The port is some 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) from the place the ship have been on standby since Saturday night.

    “It ’s a relief for everyone, our teams and in fact mainly for the survivors to grasp that they’re in any case allowed to move to a secure port in Europe,” Beau advised newshounds in Marseille, France.

  • Cockatoo known in 13th Century European book

    One of the four images of the cockatoo in the 13th Century manuscript Image copyright BIBLIOTECA APOSTOLICA VATICANA Symbol caption The cockatoo belongs to either the triton or yellow-crested species, researchers say

    Researchers have discovered the oldest-recognized Ecu illustrations of an Australasian cockatoo, in a manuscript from the 13th Century.

    Four drawings of the white chook were found in a falconry e book as soon as owned by way of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. The book is now in the Vatican Library.

    They pre-date different Eu depictions of cockatoos by means of 250 years.

    Researchers say the pictures in the e-book, dated among 1241-1248, provide perception into medieval business routes.

    “the fact that a cockatoo reached Sicily throughout the thirteenth Century shows that merchants plying their industry to the north of Australia were a part of a flourishing network that reached west to the center East and beyond,” stated co-writer Dr Heather Dalton, from the College of Melbourne.

    Symbol copyright BIBLIOTECA APOSTOLICA VATICANA Symbol caption There are 4 drawings of the cockatoo

    It features greater than 900 drawings of birds and animals that have been kept via Frederick II at his palaces.

    A description in Latin next to at least one drawing identifies the cockatoo as a gift from a sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty, which was once focused in Egypt.

    “Scholars, including me, had been aware the sultan had given a white parrot to Frederick II, but few were conscious there have been surviving pictures of this chicken,” Dr Dalton mentioned.

    Find ‘rewrites’ Australian human historical past Neanderthals had been in a position to making artwork

    Dr Dalton stated she believed that the cockatoo was once taken from its authentic habitat to Sicily by means of Cairo in a adventure lasting several years.

    The research has been revealed in the magazine Parergon.

    Previously, the oldest-recognized European depiction of a cockatoo was once a 1496 artwork by means of Italian painter Andrea Mantegna.

  • Italy, France attempt to patch up migrant row; draw papal rebuke – The Globe and Mail

    Ecu neighbours Italy and France tried to patch up a row over immigration on Thursday as Pope Francis recommended politicians all over the place to work together on helping refugees and respect their dignity.

    Italy summoned France ’s envoy on Wednesday and demanded an apology from President Emmanuel Macron, who had said Rome ’s transfer to dam a migrant rescue send from its ports was once an act of “cynicism and irresponsibility”.

    Macron, in a overdue Wednesday phone call with Italian Top Minister Giuseppe Conte, stated he did not mean to offend “Italy and the Italian people”, consistent with a statement.

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    the 2 leaders confirmed a lunch meeting on Friday to speak about “new initiatives” on immigration, a day after Italian Inside Minister Matteo Salvini announced an “axis” with Germany and Austria to struggle illegal migration.

    “France does not need escalation; it ’s counter productive. we want to keep up discussion,” a supply just about Macron said because the president visited the western the town of Rochefort. Alternatively, the supply brought that Macron was not “taking back anything else”.

    Salvini has vowed to proceed to dam overseas humanitarian boats from Italian ports as Europe wrestles with find out how to proportion the responsibility of handling migrants seeking to input the european from battle zones and negative nations, largely throughout Africa and the middle East.

    More Than 1.8 million migrants have arrived in Europe considering the fact that 2014, and Italy is now sheltering greater than ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY,000 asylum seekers, besides as an anticipated 500,000 unregistered migrants. A European Union summit will discuss the bloc ’s asylum laws at the finish of the month.

    Pope Francis, who has made the defence of refugees a plank of his papacy, rebuked politicians for now not respecting the consideration of migrants and demanded “a metamorphosis in mindset”.

    Talking at a convention on migration at the Vatican, the pope said international locations will have to interact and “move from making an allowance for others as threats to our convenience to valuing them as individuals whose existence enjoy and values can contribute greatly to the enrichment of our society”.

    AQUARIUS

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    The row focused at the charity send Aquarius, which both Italy and Malta refused to let dock at their ports. It used to be sporting 629 migrants and is heading to Spain, which has presented safe harbour, escorted via Italian ships.

    Now the migrants are suffering from sea illness because of tough prerequisites, according to Docs without boundaries, certainly one of the charities that runs the Aquarius.

    Ropes have been strung across the send to make it more straightforward to walk on deck, video from the Aquarius confirmed. a few of the migrants are ladies and small children who’re not anticipated to disembark earlier than Saturday night time. They had been rescued off the coast of Libya remaining week.

    Regardless Of grievance from the pope and the U.N. refugee agency, which called the remedy of the migrants on the Aquarius “shameful”, Salvini has no longer modified his position.

    “Ships belonging to overseas organisations and flying international flags can’t dictate Italy ’s immigration policy,” Salvini, who also heads the anti-immigrant League birthday celebration, stated on Wednesday.

    A U.S. Military send that recovered 41 survivors and 12 bodies after a shipwreck on Tuesday used to be nonetheless looking forward to Italy to come to a decision what to do with them.

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    A Dutch-flagged humanitarian ship, the ocean Watch THREE, had offered to take them on board, but no longer with no written be sure that it’ll be allowed to dock in an Italian port, which it has no longer received.

    The U.S. ship, the Trenton, was pressured to drop the 12 our bodies again within the sea as it did not have a place to retailer them, los angeles Repubblica Web Page said. A U.S. navy spokeswoman didn’t instantly respond to a request for affirmation.

    “The wait was too long,” Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the World Group for Migration, said on Twitter. “With Out refrigerated garage, the rescuers have been forced to desert the cadavers at sea. A dramatic gesture.”

  • The Latest: Aid group refuses migrants from US Navy ship

    The Latest on the flow of migrants into Europe (all times local):

    CATANIA, Sicily (AP) – The Latest on the flow of migrants into Europe (all times local):

    10:05 p.m.

    A German humanitarian group says it is declining to take aboard 41 migrants rescued by a U.S. Navy ship because Italy has refused to assign the group’s ship a port where it can dock.

    Sea Watch, whose rescue vessel is operating off Libya’s northern coast, said the migrants were picked up by the Navy after their rubber dinghy sank and at least 12 people died. The group said Wednesday the survivors need immediate care on land.

    The group cited Italy’s recent refusal to let another group’s rescue ship dock as the reason it was not taking on the passengers the U.S. Navy ship Trenton rescued Tuesday.

    Sea Watch confirmed it had space on board its ship and food for 41 passengers, “but that without an assigned place of safety, Sea-Watch 3 isn’t in a position to carry out a transfer” of migrants from the Trenton.

    The U.S. Sixth Fleet says it is coordinating with its partners on where the migrants will go.

    ___

    6:10 p.m.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel is heading for a showdown with her conservative allies in a dispute over whether to turn back some refugees at the border.

    Horst Seehofer, who heads the Bavaria-only sister party to Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, made the proposal as part of a 63-point plan to crack down on illegal migration.

    As interior minister, Seehofer oversees border control and migration, and his party is under pressure to take a hard line ahead of state elections in Bavaria this fall.

    Seehofer told reporters Wednesday that he wants an agreement this week, and backed the idea of an Italian-Austrian-German “axis” to tackle illegal migration.

    Speaking at a separate event, Merkel said she wants a “solution for all of Europe” rather than one that works only for some countries.

    ___

    3:10 p.m.

    Italy’s finance minister has canceled a planned meeting in Paris with his French counterpart after the two countries clashed over Italy’s decision to refuse entry to a migrant rescue ship.

    The office of Finance Minister Giovanni Tria confirmed Wednesday’s meeting with Bruno Le Maire had been scrapped. Le Maire’s office confirmed the cancellation. No reason was given by either office.

    But earlier, Italy’s foreign ministry warned that relations had been compromised by France’s public criticism that Italy’s decision to refuse entry to the migrant ship Aquarius had been “cynical” and irresponsible.

    Italy summoned the French ambassador to protest and demanded an official apology.

    Italy has defended its decision to refuse the Aquarius and its 600 passengers entry. Spain has offered to take it in and the ship is currently on the days long voyage to Valencia.

    ___

    2:15 p.m.

    The U.N. refugee agency chief says a bitter dispute over which European country should take in a rescue boat carrying hundreds of migrants in the Mediterranean is “profoundly shameful” for the European Union.

    Filippo Grandi railed against the dispute involving France, Italy, Malta and Spain over the Aquarius, which is carrying some 629 migrants who left from Libya.

    Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Grandi said the EU can expect more such incidents in coming weeks as long as it remains divided on its policies toward migrants and refugees.

    Spain offered to take in the Aquarius after Italy and Malta refused to do so. French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the Italian government’s refusal.

    Grandi said closing ports wrongly threatens “rescue at sea” – a requirement under international law – but said Italy’s reasoning was “something that we need to listen to.”

    ___

    2 p.m.

    France’s foreign ministry spokeswoman says France is fully aware of the burden weighing on Italy amid the migrant crisis, and of the efforts made by the country.

    Agnes von der Muhll says “none of the comments by French authorities have questioned this, nor the need for a close coordination between Europeans”, in a written statement Wednesday.

    She wouldn’t comment any further on the decision of Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi to summon the French ambassador on Wednesday following comments by the French president on Italy’s refusal to allow a ship carrying rescued migrants to dock.

    French President Emmanuel Macron is to meet with new Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte on Friday in Paris.

    Migrant-related issues will be at the heart of the discussions and France hopes to maintain a “close dialogue” with its neighbor, the statement says.

    ___

    1:35 p.m.

    The leader of Austria and Germany’s conservative interior minister say their countries will cooperate with Italy to tackle the problem of illegal migration.

    Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said an “axis of the willing” between Rome, Vienna and Berlin makes sense because the countries form one of the main travel routes into Europe for migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean.

    Kurz told reporters in Berlin that a growing number of European governments agree on the need to curb uncontrolled migration and crack down on people trafficking.

    Horst Seehofer, Germany’s interior minister, said he spoke Tuesday to his Italian counterpart, adding that the three countries would press ahead on the issue.

    Seehofer has taken a tough line on immigration that’s put him at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    ___

    1:15 p.m.

    Italy’s foreign ministry says French criticism of its handling of the migrant ship Aquarius is “unacceptable,” and is compromising their diplomatic relations.

    The ministry issued a statement after Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi summoned the French ambassador to complain on Wednesday. The French charge d’affairs, Claire Anne Raulin, represented France as the ambassador was out of Rome.

    In the statement, Italy said France could have made its views privately, and considered the public complaints by President Emmanuel Macron “unacceptable” and “unjustified.” Macron had said Italy had been cynical and irresponsible for having denied entry to the Aquarius, a rescue vessel with more than 600 migrants onboard.

    The ministry said: “Such declarations are compromising relations between Italy and France.” It added that Italy was waiting for French to take action to “heal the situation that has been created.”

    ___

    11:40 a.m.

    Italy is challenging France to take in the migrants it promised to under an EU agreement, and has accused France of turning back some 10,000 migrants at Italy’s northern border.

    Interior Minister Matteo Salvini blasted the French critique of its handling of the Aquarius migrant ship standoff during a speech to Parliament on Wednesday. Salvini demanded an apology after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Italy of cynical, irresponsible behavior by refusing to let the Aquarius dock in an Italian port.

    Salvini said France had committed to accepting 9,816 migrants under a 2015 EU redistribution scheme to relieve front-line countries of the pressure of asylum-seekers. The scheme has never gotten off the ground.

    Salvini said in three years, France has accepted only 640 people. “So I ask President Macron to pass from words to action and tomorrow morning welcome the 9,816 France promised to welcome as a sign of concrete generosity and not just words.”

    ___

    10:45 a.m.

    The co-founder of the SOS Mediterranee charity says three ships carrying 629 migrants are expected to arrive around Saturday night at the Spanish port of Valencia, depending on weather conditions.

    Sophie Beau said Wednesday in a news conference in Marseille, France, “it’s a relief for everyone, our teams and of course above all for the survivors to know that they are finally allowed to head to a safe port in Europe.”

    Beau said while the rescue ship the association operates, the Aquarius, is travelling the 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) to Spain, new victims “are dying under our eyes.”

    She called on European countries to set up a fleet to save human lives in the Mediterranean Sea.

    Spain offered to welcome migrants aboard the Aquarius rescue ship after Italy and Malta refused to take them in.

    Italy sent two ships operated by the Italian navy and coast guard to take on some of the migrant passengers and escort the ship on the voyage.

    ___

    10:40 a.m.

    Italy’s coast guard says its ship Diciotti has brought 932 migrants to shore in Catania, Sicily, as a diplomatic standoff continues over Italy’s refusal to let another rescue ship dock.

    The Diciotti was also carrying the corpses of two people who died during their voyage, a woman and a teenage boy.

    Thirteen of the passengers disembarking in Catania are pregnant and 208 are minors. The passengers hailed from Eritrea, Sudan, Mali, Ivory Coast and Guinea.

    During the voyage to Sicily, four pregnant women and a man suffering from fever were evacuated urgently and taken to hospitals.

    The Aquarius migrant ship operated by SOS Mediterranee has been refused entry to Italian ports. It is now heading to Spain.

    ___

    9:25 a.m.

    Italy has summoned the French ambassador for consultations after French President Emmanuel Macron criticized what he called Italy’s cynicism and irresponsibility in turning away a migrant rescue ship with more than 600 people aboard.

    A statement from the foreign ministry said the ambassador had been summoned Wednesday morning “following the statements given in Paris yesterday about the Aquarius.”

    Macron’s office said Tuesday that France doesn’t want to “start a precedent” that would allow some European countries to breach international laws and rely on other EU member states to take in migrants.

    Spain has agreed to accept the Aquarius in its port in Valencia.

    ___

    9:15 a.m.

    An Italian coast guard vessel has docked in Sicily with more than 900 migrants aboard, evidence that Italy’s new anti-migrant government is still taking in some asylum-seekers but is forcing the rest of Europe to accept others.

    Crew aboard the Diciotti began disembarking passengers in Catania’s port early Wednesday. At the same time, the Aquarius vessel of the aid group SOS Mediterranee continued its days long westward voyage to Spain, where it was rerouted after Italy and Malta refused it entry.

    The fates of the two ships are evidence of the policy shift by Italy’s new populist government: refuse entry to rescue ships of European-flagged aid groups, but allow Italian maritime vessels in its ports.

    The shift has heightened tensions in Europe, with France accusing Italy of “cynical” and irresponsible behavior.