Italy presses EU nations to open ports to rescued migrants

A group await on board precarious wooden boats around 20 miles southwest from the Italian island of Lampedusa (Santi Palacios/AP)

Italy has stepped up pressure on fellow EU nations to open their ports to migrants rescued by humanitarian ships as political tension simmers in the Italian government’s coalition over a sharply rising number of arrivals this summer on the country’s southern shores.

The office of interior minister Luciana Lamorgese said she had a long telephone conversation with the European Union’s internal affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson.