The Italian Prime Minister, the far-right Giorgia Meloni, today described France's reaction as "aggressive" and "disproportionate" after Italy rejected the reception of the 237 migrants aboard a humanitarian ship that have landed in that country and asked " a European solution" to the migratory problem. Paris has announced retaliation for the attitude of the Italian government.
"The Ocean Viking that has docked in a French port today is the first NGO ship to do so in France and is carrying 234 migrants, which has generated a very harsh reaction from a nation, Italy, which since the beginning of the year has received almost 90,000 migrants in its national territory," Meloni told a news conference in Rome.
The arrival in France of the Ocean Viking, which docked this Friday at the French naval base in Toulon (southeast), has generated a conflict between Paris and Rome over the Italian government's rejection of the ship disembarking migrants in its territory to proceed then to a distribution between several European countries.
