Economics
Germany Accuses Italy of Sabotaging Sea-Rescue Mission
- Merkel’s government abruptly suspends deployoment of navy ship
- Maritime dispute adds to Salvini’s growing list of conflicts
Ursula von der Leyen
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s defense minister accused Italy of sabotaging a migration rescue mission in the central Mediterranean Sea, sharply escalating a dispute between Berlin and Rome’s populist government.
Germany on Tuesday abruptly suspended the deployment of a naval vessel in the European Union’s Sophia mission that had rescued scores of refugees. On Wednesday, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, speaking on the margins of the World Economic Forum, said Sophia’s Italian commanders had diverted German naval forces away from sea-rescue activity.