A senior member of the French government said Tuesday that Italy should not close its ports to ships carrying migrants rescued at sea. "Europe's level of solidarity is 10 times what it was before," European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau told Sud radio when asked about the case of the Aquarius NGO-run migrant-rescue ship. "That is why we say again to Italy that the idea of closing its ports to people in danger is against the law, it is against humanity".
Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini has denied migrant-rescue vessels access to Italian ports on several occasions in recent months, saying Italy is bearing too much of the burden of receiving asylum seekers.
On Monday that SOS Méditerranée NGO asked France to allow the Aquarius to dock in Marseilles with 58 migrants on board. Paris denied the request, calling for a European solution.
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