Italy stranding hundreds of migrants at sea as Pope calls for EU cooperation
- Minister tells NGO boats carrying migrants to stay away from Italian ports and return to international waters once minors and vulnerable passengers disembark
- Pope Francis calls for cooperation within the European Union and for migrants to be ‘welcomed, accompanied, encouraged and integrated’
Ships carrying hundreds of migrants rescued at sea were ordered by Italy’s far-right government not to release all passengers upon arrival, reviving a policy sure to roil Germany and other European Union governments.
Interior minister Matteo Piantedosi said non-governmental organisation vessels carrying migrants must stay away from Italian ports and return to international waters once minors and vulnerable passengers disembarked.
Authorities allowed the German humanitarian ship Humanity 1, with 179 migrants, to enter the port of Catania in Sicily and disembark 144 of them early Sunday, according to ANSA newswire.
The ship, run by the SOS Humanity charity, is challenging the government’s decision to distinguish “vulnerable” people, saying all the migrants on board were rescued at sea and were therefore entitled to safe harbour under international law. The ship’s crew refuses to leave the port until all passengers can go ashore.
Italy’s far-right leader Meloni visits EU: ‘We are not Martians’
A second ship, the Norway-flagged GEO Barents carrying more than 500 people, arrived at the same Sicilian port on Sunday and faced similar limitations. The status of its passengers wasn’t immediately disclosed.
The restrictions mirror those implemented in 2018 by former interior minister Matteo Salvini, whose policy triggered diplomatic tensions with EU allies. Last week, France and Germany urged Italy to grant a safe port to the hundreds of migrants stranded on NGO ships in the central Mediterranean.
A hard-line stance against illegal migration was a key campaign platform of new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the country’s most far-right premier since World War II.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis called for cooperation within the European Union in taking in migrants arriving across the Mediterranean.
“The European Union must adopt a policy of cooperation and assistance in this regard,” the head of the Catholic Church said at a press conference during a return flight from his Bahrain trip to Rome on Sunday.
Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain cannot be left in charge of all migrants, he warned. The pontiff called for migrants to be welcomed, accompanied, encouraged and integrated.
“If you don’t manage these four steps, the work with migrants cannot be good,” the Argentinian-born cleric said.
Francis has already called the Mediterranean the “largest cemetery in the world”.
