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Updated at 6pm
The Maltese authorities have given the migrants fuel and a compass to help them reach Lampedusa, Italy's Matteo Salvini said on Saturday, once again surpassing the expectations of the saga of migration in the Mediterranean.
The leader of the far-right Lega movement in Italy said that there were too many clues that let him believe in a hostile attitude coming from Malta, another EU member state .
In comments to reporters later in the day, Salvini doubled his credibility.
"If Malta and France treat us like fools, they will face the consequences," he said. "Instead of waiting for the small letters from Brussels, it is time for us to send them angry letters.I have already heard about it with the rest of Europe, who was dealing with the issue. Italy as a refugee camp ".
According to Salvini's ministry, the Italian authorities alerted their Maltese counterparts last Wednesday about a boat carrying 13 migrants in Maltese search and rescue waters, running out of fuel. The boat finally landed in Lampedusa on Friday with passengers on board who said they were helped at sea by people in uniform "like [Maltese] coastguard ".
AzzPazzesco !!!
Dopo the Francia che riporta clandestini di nascosto, ora #Malta Regala has barchini benzina e bussole for arrivals in Italy!
Intanto Brussels below for more details: not so far from intimidating! ????????https://t.co/Wxjq096ezk– Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) November 10, 2018
According to the information received, the migrants were approached by a canoe, provided with water, two fuel tanks, lifejackets and a compass, and escorted for about an hour towards the airport. 39; Italy.
This is not the first time that the leader of the Italian far-right party, League, accuses Malta of evading its responsibilities when it comes to managing the constant flow of migrants from North Africa.
He also brought similar charges in France.
"Some Member States do not care about migrants and reject them on us, while Brussels threatens sanctions on our budget: we will not be intimidated," he said.
& # 39; Stop this game & # 39; – Minister of the Interior
The first reaction of the Maltese government to Salvini's accusations came via Interior Minister Michael Farrugia on Twitter.
In a series of tweets that have repeatedly denied the claims of the Italian minister, Farrugia wrote that Salvini "should understand that the boats of migrants on the high seas are not always in distress".
3/4 @matteosalvinimi should understand that migrant boats operating on the high seas are not always in distress. If the persons on board refuse to be rescued, no SAR authority can forbid them to continue their journey.
– Michael Farrugia (@dr_micfarr) November 10, 2018
"If the people on board refuse to be rescued, no SAR authority can forbid them to continue their journey".
Dr Farrugia accused Italy of failing to meet its international obligations on several occasions and emphasized that Malta "always respected all its obligations and respected the principle of the closest place of safety".
Malta has always insisted that persons detained at sea should be taken to the nearest security port, in accordance with the 1979 International Convention on Search and Rescue at Sea. Italy, for its part, considers that that an amendment to the 2004 Convention, which states that persons rescued at sea should be driven to a port belonging to the country in which they were found in the search and rescue area, should apply .
Mr Farrugia insisted that Malta had exceeded its international obligations, reminding Mr Salvini that his country had allowed migrants rescued at sea to land in Malta after Italy had closed its ports to them.
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