Foreign migrant ships may be blocked (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, June 28 - The Italian government is mulling whether to deny docking privileges in Italian ports to ships rescuing migrants off Libya that are flying non-Italian flags, government sources said Wednesday. They said it was now "unsustainable" that all the vessels operating in the Mediterranean should bring rescued asylum seekers to Italy.
    Italy, the sources said, will continue to save human lives at sea as it has always done over recent years, but it is no longer sustainable that the whole burden of migrant reception should weigh on Italy. Rescues and reception cannot be separated and therefore the contribution of the EU must not be limited to sea rescues, the sources said. A possible block on Italian ports would concern not only ships operated by non-governmental organisations operating in the central Mediterranean but also naval units inserted in the mission of Frontex, the EU border control agency, and in EUNAVFOR MED, the operation that is tasked with combatting human traffickers in the Sicilian Channel and in which 25 European nations are taking part.