Tensions rise between France and Italy as a new agreement to aid asylum seekers falls.

On Thursday, a French-Italian spat over a boat full of asylum-seekers in
the Mediterranean tore apart an agreement for Europe to support
asylum-seekers collectively.

After the right-wing Italian government refused to accept people aboard the
Ocean Viking last month, the crew had been seeking to dock ever since. On
Thursday, France’s center-left government said it would accept refugees but
no longer participate in a European Union system to distribute them more
fairly.

As a result of the statement, tensions between the previously peaceful
neighbors escalated.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has stated that “steps would be
taken in the coming hours to reinforce security at the French border with
Italy.”