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Italian Foreign Minister Moavero Milanesi gestures as he briefs the media during a news conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas after a meeting at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, Monday, July 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, right, and his counterpart from Italy Moavero Milanesi, left, brief the media after a meeting at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, Monday, July 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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Italian Foreign Minister Moavero Milanesi briefs the media during a news conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas after a meeting at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, Monday, July 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

EU seeks solution to Italy's concerns over migrant mission

By Associated Press New Berlin

PUBLISHED 1:56 PM ET May. 09, 2019

BERLIN (AP) — Italy's foreign minister says Rome will allow migrants rescued by a European Union naval operation to land over the coming weeks while EU nations figure out how to divide up new arrivals.

Italy has launched a crackdown on migration and is seeking to renegotiate Operation Sophia's mandate to prevent rescued migrants from being brought exclusively to Italy.

Sophia's commander recently ordered participating ships to return to port, but on Monday German officials said a German ship participating in the operation had put out to sea again.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Monday that, over the next five weeks, EU countries will discuss how people rescued can be distributed in Europe.

His Italian counterpart Enzo Moavero Milanesi said that, in the meantime, Italy will allow rescued migrants to disembark there.