The Netherlands ambassador should be asked to give urgent clarification over a Dutch-flagged ship with 47 rescued migrants on board that ithe coastguard has allowed to shelter in Italian coastal waters, Italy's deputy premier Luigi Di Maio said on Friday.
"I believe it is opportune to immediately summon the Dutch ambassador and to ask him what his government's intentions are," Di Maio wrote on Facebook.
"Will it join us in asking Sea Watch 3 to sail to Marseille or will it have the migrants come ashore in Rotterdam?" he said, referring to the German NGO Seawatch vessel currently located off the eastern Sicilian port of Siracusa.
The Italian government wants give "maximum cooperation" in the case but its policy of barring migrant rescue ships from Italy's ports "will not change" Di Maio said.