Matteo Salvini: Italian ports closed to migrants

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini on Sunday reiterated his stance that migrant vessels are not welcome at the country’s ports, following requests from NGOs to allow two rescue ships to dock.

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“Italian ports are CLOSED,” the right-wing leader tweeted in one of a series of posts on social media. “The traffickers of men and their accomplices know that our ports are closed, STOP!” he said.

Two charities carrying out rescue operations this weekend sought permission to drop off people rescued off the Libyan coast in recent days.

After being denied entry to Italy and Malta, a Proactiva Open Arms ship carrying 311 people headed onto Spain, Reuters reported. A second vessel from German NGO Sea Watch 3 also sought entry.

“Italy has not coordinated the relief in Libyan waters, just as France, Spain or others have not,” tweeted Danilo Toninelli, Italy’s transport minister. “So what does the EU want to do? We need a response from the whole of Europe to the emergency.”

Former parliamentary speaker Laura Boldrini told news agency Adnkronos that the ships represented a “Christmas gift for Salvini” because they allowed him to double down on his migration policy.

Boldrini, a former spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, was highly critical of Salvini’s stance.

So far “we are at zero bilateral agreements with countries of origin, zero strategy of sharing with European countries and therefore zero solution,” she said.