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Migrant ship row: Italy-France ministers' meeting postponed | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Italy's Economy Minister Giovanni Tria has postponed talks scheduled for Wednesday with his French counterpart amid a row over a migrant ship. | |
A French official said the ministers had agreed by phone to meet in the coming days instead. | |
The development came on a day of diplomatic twists between the nations. | |
Earlier, Italy had summoned the French ambassador after France's president attacked it for not allowing a rescue boat to dock. | |
There were also suggestions that a scheduled meeting between Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and French President Emmanuel Macron should not go ahead in Paris on Friday. | |
Italy's new Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said it "would be right not to go to France" unless Paris officially apologised for its comments on the rescue ship. | |
What was the row about? | |
On Sunday, Italy refused to allow an NGO ship with 629 rescued migrants aboard to dock in its ports. | |
Spain said it would give "safe harbour" to the ship, the Aquarius, to avoid a humanitarian disaster - but French President Emmanuel Macron said Italy had been "cynical and irresponsible" to turn it away. | |
A spokesman for Mr Macron's party described the Italian government's position as "sickening". | |
"It's unacceptable to play politics with human lives, which is what is happening at the moment," Gabriel Attal told the Public Senat channel. | |
The criticism angered Italy, and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte hit back at France, calling its stance on migrants "hypocritical". | |
Italian Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio added: "I'm glad the French have discovered responsibility. If they want, we will help them. Let them open their ports and we will transfer a few of the people to France." | Italian Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio added: "I'm glad the French have discovered responsibility. If they want, we will help them. Let them open their ports and we will transfer a few of the people to France." |
He criticised "countries that have always preferred to turn their backs when it comes to immigration". | He criticised "countries that have always preferred to turn their backs when it comes to immigration". |
What is the situation of migrants in Italy? | What is the situation of migrants in Italy? |
Most migrants who survive the perilous voyages from North Africa end up in overcrowded Italian camps. | Most migrants who survive the perilous voyages from North Africa end up in overcrowded Italian camps. |
Among them are refugees fleeing war and persecution, who have a right to asylum. | Among them are refugees fleeing war and persecution, who have a right to asylum. |
In the past five years, Italy has taken in more than 640,000 mainly African migrants. | |
Are other ships caught up in the dispute? | |
Yes, in the short and longer-term. | |
On Wednesday an Italian coastguard vessel docked on the Italian island of Sicily, carrying 937 migrants and the bodies of two people who had died making the voyage. | |
The fate of the ship, the Diciotti, highlights the difference in the government's attitude to Italian ships and those linked to foreign NGOs. | |
The Diciotti had picked up the migrants off the coast of Libya and was allowed to land as it was carrying out a government mission. | |
But Mr Salvini has insisted that NGOs operating rescue ships in the Mediterranean under other countries' flags have no right to bring immigrants to Italy. | |
He has previously said he is considering action against organisations that rescue migrants at sea. | |
What has the wider reaction been? | |
The UN's refugee chief Filippo Grandi has urged the EU to address its "shameful" refugee policy, and "reform its asylum system in a collective manner". | |
"As a European, I felt shame - shame - that there was a boat - there is a boat - in the Mediterranean, and for several days nobody wanted to take these people," Mr Grandi told Reuters. | |
France's foreign ministry has said that it is "perfectly aware" of the strain Italy is under as it negotiates an influx of migrants from Africa. | |
It said France is "committed to co-operation and dialogue" on the issue. | |
Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that the interior ministers of Austria, Germany and Italy have formed an "axis of the willing" to tackle illegal EU immigration. | |
BBC Europe editor Katya Adler says that as a result of Italy's moves this week, European leaders are being spurred into action, or are at least considering it far more seriously. | |
Read more: Katya Adler's full blog post on the Aquarius row |