Italy's new leaders get tough on migrants; Spain steps up

Italy's new "Italians first" government claimed victory Monday when the Spanish prime minister offered safe harbor to a private rescue ship after Italy and Malta refused to allow it permission to disembark its 629 migrant passengers in their ports.

The Aquarius, a rescue vessel operated by aid group SOS Mediterranee, has been stuck in the Mediterranean Sea since Saturday, when Italy refused its crew permission to dock and demanded that Malta do so. Malta refused on Sunday.

In this photo taken on Friday, June 1, 2018 the rescue vessel Aquarius ship approaches the Pozzallo harbor, Southern Italy. Spain stepped up Monday, June 11, 2018 and offered to take in a rescue ship carrying more than 600 migrants after Italy and Malta refused. Italy and Malta quickly thanked Spain's new Socialist prime minister for the offer to receive aid group SOS Mediterranee's ship at the port of Valencia. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

In this photo taken on Friday, June 1, 2018 the rescue vessel Aquarius ship approaches the Pozzallo harbor, Southern Italy. Spain stepped up Monday, June 11, 2018 and offered to take in a rescue ship carrying more than 600 migrants after Italy and Malta refused. Italy and Malta quickly thanked Spain's new Socialist prime minister for the offer to receive aid group SOS Mediterranee's ship at the port of Valencia. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

Spain's new Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez stepped in Monday, ordering authorities in Valencia to prepare for the ship's arrival.

"It's our duty to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a secure port for these people," Sanchez said.

Both the ship and its passengers were caught up in a political dispute that might not have happened weeks ago.

One of the coalition partners in the populist government that took over in Italy on June 1, the right-wing League, promised voters other European Union countries would be made to share the burden of caring for asylum-seekers who set out for Europe on unseaworthy smugglers' boats.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini addresses the media during a press conference at the League party's headquarters in Milan, Italy, Monday, June 11, 2018. Italy and Malta dug in for a second day Monday and refused to let a rescue ship carrying 629 migrants dock in their ports, leaving the boat at sea as a diplomatic standoff escalated under Italy's new anti-immigrant government.  (AP Photo/Charlene Pele)

CORRECTS NAME OF BOAT This undated photo released by by French NGO "SOS Mediterranee" on Monday June 11, 2018 and posted on it's Twitter account, shows migrants aboard SOS Mediterranee's Aquarius ship and MSF (Doctors Without Borders) NGOs, in the Mediterranean Sea. (Kenny Karpov/SOS Mediterranee via AP)

"Evidently it pays to raise one's voice, something Italy hasn't done as long as one can remember," Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, the League's leader, said Monday at party headquarters.

For those aboard the Aquarius, Spain's offer of docking rights at the port of Valencia was welcome news, although it did not provide a quick or easy solution. By Monday evening, the ship was more than 1,400 kilometers (over 750 nautical miles) from Valencia and still awaiting formal instructions to head to Spain as weather forecasts predicted worsening conditions.

It was unclear if the days of sailing west it would take to get to Spain were feasible, SOS Mediterranee Maritime Operations Manager Antoine Laurent said. The traumatized, exhausted passengers include 120 minors, many of them traveling alone, and seven pregnant women. Several migrants had water in their lungs, suffered hypothermia or burns from a mix of boat fuel and seawater while in their traffickers' boats.

Malta had food and water ferried Monday to the Aquarius, which was running out of supplies.

"The situation is stable but it cannot run" on forever, Laurent said.

CORRECTS NAME OF BOAT This undated photo released by by French NGO "SOS Mediterranee" on Monday June 11, 2018 and posted on it's Twitter account, shows migrants about to board the SOS Mediterranee's Aquarius ship and MSF (Doctors Without Borders) NGOs, in the Mediterranean Sea. (Kenny Karpov/SOS Mediterranee via AP)

CORRECTS NAME OF BOAT This undated photo released by by French NGO "SOS Mediterranee" on Monday June 11, 2018 and posted on it's Twitter account, shows migrants about to board SOS Mediterranee's Aquarius ship and MSF (Doctors Without Borders) NGOs, in the Mediterranean Sea. (Kenny Karpov/SOS Mediterranee via AP)

A doctor aboard the ship, David Beversluis, said one passenger had to be revived after he was rescued.

"All the survivors are exhausted and dehydrated because they spent many hours adrift in these boats," he said.

Even as the Aquarius' crew grappled with the logistics, Italy vowed to block other rescue boats, including the Dutch-flagged Sea-Watch 3, another aid group's boat. Like the Aquarius, the Sea-Watch 3 rescued migrants in the waters off Libya, where human smugglers are based and asylum-hopefuls have reported torture, beatings, rape and scarce rations in migrant detention centers.

"Little changes if the boat is called Aquarius or Sea-Watch 3," Salvini, the interior minister, said. "We want to put an end to this traffic in human beings. And, so, as we have raised the problem for the Aquarius, we'll do it for all the other boats."

Even as he drew his line, an Italian coast guard vessel with 936 migrants and two migrants' bodies on board was headed toward Catania, Sicily, where it was expected to dock on Tuesday evening, Italian news agency ANSA said. The passengers were rescued in seven separate operations.

The President of the Republic of Malta Marie Louise Coleiro Preca arrives at the University of Catania to attend the 'Virdimura' International Award, in Catania, on the southern Italia island of Sicily, Monday, June 11, 2018. Malta is accusing Italy of violating international norms by instructing a migrant rescue ship with 629 people aboard to stay at sea while a diplomatic standoff plays out over where it can dock. (Orietta Scardino/ANSA via AP)

CAPTION CORRECTS THE NAME OF THE BOAT FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, African migrants float on a wooden boat next to a rescue ship during a search and rescue operation conducted by SOS Mediterranee's Aquarius ship and MSF (Doctors Without Borders) NGOs, in the Mediterranean Sea, north of Libyan coast.  (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, file)

The exulting by Salvini, who is also deputy premier, nearly eclipsed the satisfaction expressed by his fellow deputy, Luigi Di Maio, who leads the governing coalition's senior partner, the euroskeptic 5-Star Movement.

Spain's offer is "important news, since it signals a turning point," Di Maio said.

The vast majority of the people traveling on the Aquarius — 400 — were rescued by Italian coast guard and navy vessels as well as cargo ships in the waters off Libya. They were transferred to the Aquarius on Saturday before the standoff developed.

Given that the aid ship had no emergency, Italy decided to appeal to other European countries "so they don't leave Italy alone yet again in managing the migratory flows, which is a phenomenon that is all of Europe's business," Di Maio said in a Facebook post.

FILE - In this Saturday, June 9, 2018 filer, migrants line-up after disembarking at the Reggio Calabria harbor, Southern Italy. An aid ship carrying 629 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean was waiting to learn where it can dock. (Marco Costantino/ANSA via AP, File)

Under a European Union agreement, the country where asylum-seekers arrive and are identified must care for them until their asylum requests are decided, a process that can take a couple of years.

The refusals by Italy and Malta, leaving the Aquarius unable to quickly bring the migrants to a safe port, dismayed others.

"The duty of a democratic government is not to look away" in a humanitarian crisis, said Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, who also offered her port as a potential solution to the standoff.

Italy had argued that Malta, a tiny island nation that also is an EU member, was the safest, closest port to the ship. Malta, which in the last few years has only accepted a few hundred migrants, refused, retorting that it bore no responsibility because Italy had coordinated the rescues in Libya's search-and-rescue zone.

Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat accused Italy of violating international norms governing sea rescues and said the government's stance risked "creating a dangerous situation for all those involved." He thanked Spain for stepping in.

Italy's premier, Giuseppe Conte, a political novice who backs the 5-Star Movement, on Monday was touring towns in struck by a 2016 quake. He hailed Spain's decision as a "gesture of solidarity" on behalf of the European Union.

The decision by Sanchez "to exceptionally allow a rescue ship, Aquarius, to dock in his country is courageous and welcome," the head of the United Nations refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, said.

Doctors Without Borders tweeted a video of some of the women aboard the ship praying Monday morning. "Thank you, Lord," the women sang.

The passengers, with many migrants from Sudan among them, were apparently unaware of they had become pawns of sorts in Europe's new political equilibrium.

"Italy has stopped bowing our heads and obeying," Salvini said in a Facebook post. "This time we say no."

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head of the European Union's executive branch said Friday that Finland's decision to close its border crossings with Russia over a surge in migrants is a security matter for the whole 27-member bloc to consider.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the remarks during a trip to the frontier, visiting a part of the border located in southeastern Finland.

“We all know how (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his allies instrumentalize migrants to test our defenses and to try to destabilize us,” von der Leyen told officials. “Now Putin is focusing on Finland, and this is no doubt in response to your firm support of Ukraine and your accession to NATO.”

On April 4, Finland decided to extend the closure of its border crossing points with Russia “until further notice” because of what the government says is a high risk of organized migration being orchestrated by Moscow. Finland's government has closed eight of its nine checkpoints with Russia. The only one that remains open is dedicated to rail travel only, and cargo trains mainly run through it.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) land border with Russia, running mostly through thick forests in the south, and to the rugged landscape in the Arctic north.

“This is not just about the security of Finland, but it is about the security of the European Union. We are in this together,” von der Leyen said after visiting the border in Lappeenranta with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. "We should be more Finnish when it comes to security.”

Von der Leyen and Orpo flew in a Finnish helicopter over the landscape of forests and towns on the border.

In a statement issued after the visit, Orpo said that “the spring’s warmer weather increases the risk of Russia helping people illegally try to get to Finland via the land border … outside the border crossing points.”

Von der Leyen is campaigning as a member of the conservative European People’s Party bloc for a second term in office as head of the EU’s powerful executive branch. Security is a top EPP theme ahead of the June 6-9 European Parliament elections.

Most of the migrants hail from the Middle East and Africa. The vast majority of them have sought asylum in Finland, a member of the EU and NATO with a population of 5.6 million.

Finland joined NATO in April 2023, ending decades of neutrality after the country's defeat by the Soviet Union in World War II. In March, Sweden also became a member of the trans-Atlantic alliance. The move dealt a major blow to Putin, with a historic realignment of Europe’s post-Cold War security landscape triggered by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This story has been corrected to say that Ursula von der Leyen visited the southeastern part of the border, not the Arctic portion.

——

Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, left, and Finnish Prime Minister Petter Orpo give a joint press conference at the Lappeenranta airport, eastern Finland, Friday April 19, 2024. President von der Leyen and Prime Minister Orpo visited the eastern border region of Finland on Friday and discussed what Finland and the EU can do to prevent instrumentalised migration to Finland's eastern border. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, left, and Finnish Prime Minister Petter Orpo arrive for their joint press conference at the Lappeenranta airport, eastern Finland, Friday April 19, 2024. President von der Leyen and Prime Minister Orpo visited the eastern border region of Finland on Friday and discussed what Finland and the EU can do to prevent instrumentalised migration to Finland's eastern border. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, left, and Finnish Prime Minister Petter Orpo give a joint press conference at the Lappeenranta airport, eastern Finland, Friday April 19, 2024. President von der Leyen and Prime Minister Orpo visited the eastern border region of Finland on Friday and discussed what Finland and the EU can do to prevent instrumentalised migration to Finland's eastern border. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, left, and Finnish Prime Minister Petter Orpo give a joint press conference at the Lappeenranta airport, eastern Finland, Friday April 19, 2024. President von der Leyen and Prime Minister Orpo visited the eastern border region of Finland on Friday and discussed what Finland and the EU can do to prevent instrumentalised migration to Finland's eastern border. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen reacts during her joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Petter Orpo at the Lappeenranta airport, eastern Finland, Friday April 19, 2024. President von der Leyen and Prime Minister Orpo visited the eastern border region of Finland on Friday and discussed what Finland and the EU can do to prevent instrumentalised migration to Finland's eastern border. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen looks on during her joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Petter Orpo at the Lappeenranta airport, eastern Finland, Friday April 19, 2024. President von der Leyen and Prime Minister Orpo visited the eastern border region of Finland on Friday and discussed what Finland and the EU can do to prevent instrumentalised migration to Finland's eastern border. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)