PARIS, 11 November 2022, (TON): A deal for Europe to jointly help asylum-seekers was breaking apart in a French-Italian feud over a ship floating in the Mediterranean with its passengers and crew desperate for land.
The crew of the Ocean Viking had been trying to dock since Italy’s right-wing government refused to take in people aboard last month.
The centrist government of France said “it will take them but withdraw from a broader European Union mechanism for distributing migrants more evenly.”
The announcement fueled a broader rise in tensions between the otherwise-friendly neighbors.
“France will take measures in coming hours to tighten border security with Italy,” and adjust bilateral relations accordingly, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.