Italy summons French envoy

Rescued migrants on an Italian coastguard ship. Pic/AFP

Italy's foreign ministry said it had summoned the French ambassador amid a diplomatic spat between the two countries over the handling of a migrant crisis. Yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Italy of "irresponsibility" after the Rome government refused to open its ports to the NGO Aquarius ship carrying hundreds of migrants in the Mediterranean.

Italy's new populist government was quick to respond to the accusations denouncing "hypocritical lessons" from countries like France on migrants. The 629 migrants saved by the Aquarius were stuck on the ship, as Italy and Malta bickered over who should take them before Spain offered to receive them.

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