PARIS (Reuters) -France said on Thursday it would allow an NGO ship carrying over 200 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean to dock at the port of Toulon, following tense exchanges with Italy whose attitude Paris said it bitterly regrets.
Immigration is a hot-button issue in both countries, and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Italy’s rightist government’s ban on the boat, which had been much closer to Italy than France for days, was “incomprenshible” and “selfish.”
The ship was on Thursday sailing by the French island of Corsica, the MarineTraffic tracker app showed.
The question of how to handle immigration in the largely border-free European Union has been a source of tensions for years.
Italy and Spain, where most of the migrants crossing the Mediterranean by sea arrive, say others, including France, must do more to help.
