France says it will evacuate four of the more than 200 passengers onboard the Ocean Viking rescue ship, citing health reasons, following tense exchanges with Italy on which country should allow the boat to dock.
The decision, announced by the maritime agency directed by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Thursday, came after the SOS Mediterranee charity that operates the ship requested the evacuations because of Italy’s refusal to offer port access.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, said authorities had invited the vessel to dock at the port in Toulon, in southern France.
But he also said his country would suspend a plan to welcome 3,500 refugees currently in Italy after Rome’s refusal to let the Ocean Viking ship to dock.
“It’s clear that there will be extremely severe consequences for our bilateral relations,” Darmanin said, urging Germany and other EU nations to suspend a migrant relocation accord.
A spokeswoman for the charity told the AFP news agency that one of the passengers on board was “unstable” and had not reacted to treatment since October 27.
“Two others were injured in Libya and because of this long wait for treatment, they risk having long-term health issues,” she said.
Immigration is a hot-button issue in both countries, and France on Wednesday said the Italian government’s refusal to let the boat, which had been sailing near its territorial waters for days, disembark, was “unacceptable”.
The Ocean Viking has been at sea for more than two weeks since its first rescue in the central Mediterranean and headed to France following Rome’s repeated refusal to let it dock.
Italian authorities say other European Union nations need to shoulder more of the burden of taking in the thousands of asylum seekers and refugees trying to reach Europe by sea each year, often in perilously unsafe vessels.
Authorities in both Corsica and Marseille, on mainland France, have said they were willing to welcome the boat – but that would require the green light from national authorities.
Italy has seen a sharp increase in refugee arrivals this year. Nearly 88,700 people have reached the country, compared with 56,500 in the same period last year. About 15 percent were picked up by charity vessels.
