Italy's hard-line interior minister has refused to let a rescue boat with 224 migrants on board dock in Italy, saying those on board 'will only see Italy on a postcard'.

Matteo Salvini's latest move to clamp down on arrivals from the Mediterranean comes a week after he turned away another foreign ship, the Aquarius, which was carrying 630 migrants and had to reroute to Spain.

Salvini said the latest ship, operated by German aid group Mission Lifeline, had loaded the migrants in Libyan waters against the instructions of Italy's coast guard.

The Mission Lifeline rescue boat, pictured yesterday, was carrying 224 migrants but was refused port in Italy

The country's hard-line interior minister Matteo Salvini (pictured) turned the vessel away

Mission Lifeline denied Salvini's claims, saying it conducted the rescue in international waters and asked for a safe port, which had not been assigned.

The interior minister, who is urging Malta to take in the Dutch-flagged ship as he pressures European partners to share the burden, said today: 'We cannot take in one more person. On the contrary: We want to send away a few.'

Salvini added: 'For the safety of the crew and those rescued we humanly and politically ask Malta to finally open one of its ports, and then seize the ship and its crew.'

Migrants on board the rescue boat operated by the German NGO Mission Lifeline yesterday

Pictured The migrants wear life jackets after being rescued from the Mediterranean by a German NGO

Some of the rescued migrants are pictured on a rescue boat as they made their way to a Spanish port

The stranded group queue up after arriving at the port of Motril in Granada, Spain. There were 630 migrants in total

He said: 'Italian ports are no longer at the disposal of traffickers. Open the Maltese ports! Open the French ports.'

The Aquarius, operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, took the migrants to Spain, travelling an additional 932 miles, after Italy and Malta refused to let them land.

Salvini has likened such rescue ships to taxi services that finish the job for migrant smugglers.

Men, women and children were wrapped up in towels and kept warm after docking at the Spanish Port

He also has pointed out the failure of other European Union nations to take their share of migrants headed for Europe, a point that Italy will press in forthcoming EU meetings.

Salvini has threatened that Italy will withhold its payments to the EU if it does not get more help on the migrant issue.

Italy's transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, said the Lifeline remained in Libyan waters and would be seized by Italian authorities if it arrived in Italy.

Matteo Salvini (pictured) is leading Italian efforts to reduce arrivals from African migrants

A Libyan coast guard vessel is seen next to the Mission Lifeline rescue boat yesterday

Salvini: The EU could collapse within a year Matteo Salvini has questioned whether the deeply divided EU will survive the events of the coming year. 'Within a year it will be decided whether there will still be a united Europe or not,' Salvini told German news weekly Der Spiegel. It will become clear in EU budget talks and ahead of 2019 European elections 'whether the whole thing has become meaningless', he said. The new populist government in Rome accuses fellow EU members of abandoning Italy as it tries to cope with migrants making the perilous journey from Africa across the Mediterranean. 'We cannot take in one more person,' the German magazine quoted Salvini as saying. 'On the contrary: we want to send away a few.' German Chancellor Angela Merkel, facing domestic pressure on immigration, is seeking deals to send back to Italy and other frontline countries arriving asylum seekers already registered there. Salvini, asked whether his stance could contribute to toppling Merkel, said that this was not his intention, even though Rome and Berlin were also 'far apart' on other issues, from bank reform to Germany's huge trade surplus. Advertisement

Salvini, leader of the right-wing League party, has been leading efforts to reduce arrivals from migrants rescued in the Mediterranean.

Standing next to two bus drivers who were allegedly assaulted by four migrants he boasted to reporters today that the four 'fake asylum-seekers,' whose bids for asylum had been rejected, would be rapidly deported back to Gambia and Nigeria.

'These guys won't be taking the bus in Como anymore,' Salvini vowed.

Some 640,000 migrants have landed in Italy since 2014. The numbers are down dramatically this year, to some 14,500, more than 80 per cent lower than in 2017.

An SWG poll this week showed two-thirds of Italians agree humanitarian boats should not be allowed in the country's ports.

But off the Libyan coast, where people smugglers operate with impunity, the U.N. refugee agency said an estimated 220 migrants drowned this week.

The ship's current position was not clear. The group said in a statement: 'Mission Lifeline fears that a similar situation to the Aquarius ... could be on the horizon.'

'Therefore the NGO calls on the competent authorities to swiftly react to their obligation to designate a place of safety.'

A source close to the Maltese government said that Valetta had not yet received any official request from Rome, nor had Lifeline itself sought any permission to land.

Spokesman Axel Steier said that the condition of the migrants was 'OK,' but said migrants coming from Libya typically faced 'torture, rapes, slavery'.

He said the passengers need protection and that the group was looking for a safe port 'such as Lampedusa or Pozzallo', both in Sicily.

'We never were in Libyan waters,' he said.

A migrant child is rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by the German NGO Mission Lifeline

Migrants on board the Lifeline, the Dutch-flagged vessel turned away by Italy's government

The vessel Lifeline belonging to the German NGO pictured in the Mediterranean yesterday

Migrants are hauled aboard the Dutch-flagged vessel Lifeline after being rescued from the sea

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said today his country was ready to start turning away migrants if Berlin and Vienna do so, as Germany's interior minister proposed earlier this week.

'We can expect that Austria will take the same measure and in that case, we'll do the same thing,' Babis told reporters.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned on Monday that he would give German Chancellor Angela Merkel a fortnight to find a European deal to curb new arrivals by a June 28-29 EU summit, failing which he vowed to order border police to turn back migrants.

The Social Democrats, who also share power with Merkel's conservative bloc - comprising the CSU and her own Christian Democrats (CDU) - said they were ready for a new election.

Merkel said today: 'The meeting on Sunday is a consultation and working meeting at which there will be no concluding statement.'

'It is an initial exchange with interested member states.'

She said conditions in Syria were not yet right for refugees to return. Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrians and others since 2014, and migration policy is threatening her ruling coalition.

Italy also took offence on Friday when French President Emmanuel Macron likened rising nationalism and anti-migrant sentiment in Europe to 'leprosy'.

'One day, he's saying that he doesn't want to offend Italy, and then the next, he's talking about leprosy,' said Italy's other deputy prime minister and head of the populist M5S party, Luigi Di Maio.

Salvini said: 'We may be leper populists. But I take the lessons from those who open their own ports. Welcome thousands of migrants and then we can talk.'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Lebanese and Syrian refugees in Beirut today where she said this weekend's meeting of EU leaders would not produce final results

Angela Merkel hands out Germany football shirts to displaced students in Beirut today

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK's refugee and migrant rights director said: 'European governments are once more revealing where their true priorities lie: namely shutting off the central Mediterranean route, with scant regard to the suffering caused.

'Europe's first responsibility should be to ensure that the women, men and children who are escaping violence, torture and exploitation in Libya and are in danger at sea are rescued, and brought safely to land.

'This month has already seen 233 lives lost in the central Mediterranean. The urgent need for coordinated and collective search and rescue efforts, including the vital contribution of NGO charity ships, remains as important as ever.'

In March, a boat operated by the Spanish aid group Open Arms was impounded after NGO workers refused to hand over migrants to the Libyan coastguard, instead delivering them to the Italian island of Sicily.

Last year, the Iuventa, chartered by German NGO Jugend Rettet, was also seized.

Salvini also sparked outrage on Monday when he promised a head count of Italy's Roma community and to throw out those without legal status.

His call was blasted as unconstitutional by rights groups and even criticised by members of his own coalition government, with some in Italy drawing parallels with measures targeting Jews under fascist wartime leader Benito Mussolini.

The migrants are picked up in the Mediterranean sea before they are taken to the Lifeline boat

A Libyan coast guard boat is seen next to the Mission Lifeline rescue boat in the Mediterranean

The Aquarius was carrying 630 migrants but had to take them to Spain, travelling an additional 932 miles, after Italy and Malta refused to let them land (file photo)

Italy's new far-right interior minister: League leader Matteo Salvini cracks down on migrants With his 'Italians first' rallying cry and his tub-thumping against Islam and a 'migrant invasion', Matteo Salvini has rebranded himself and his party to become both interior minister and joint deputy prime minister. As leader of the right-wing League, the 45-year-old's new job allows him to focus on the chief aspects of his election campaign - stopping illegal immigration and deporting those who have already arrived. Salvini was sworn in as interior minister after striking a last-gasp deal to form a government with the Five Star Movement, an agreement that brought Italy a populist government after nearly three months of post-electoral deadlock. He took control of the right-wing coalition that won the most votes in March's election when his League party surpassed ally Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. Far-right League leader Matteo Salvini (pictured) was named interior minister after his party struck a deal to form a government with the populist Five Star Movement Since taking over the old Northern League in 2013, Salvini has ridden a wave of public discontent, playing on anti-immigrant sentiment as he sought to shift the party's image from defender of the wealthy north against its 'parasite' south, to that of guardian of Italy's national sovereignty. Since Salvini took over the League, nearly 700,000 people have landed in Italy after crossing the Mediterranean, sparking a sense of resentment among many Italians who feel Europe has abandoned them. Salvini was in 2009 caught on video singing songs about 'stinking' Neapolitans and in 2012 said the south did not deserve the euro. But he represents impoverished southern region Calabria in the Senate and has redirected his regional chauvinism to take the League nationwide. Born and raised in Milan in 1973, Salvini joined what was then the Northern League in 1990, aged just 17, rising quickly through the ranks. At the time, the Northern League was a regional party known for its separatist campaign to secede from Italy. Salvini ran its Radio Padania, the referring to the wealthier northern region they wanted to see independent. One of his shows was called 'Never Say Italy' and in 2011, he won notoriety for boycotting Italy's 150-year anniversary celebrations, putting his desk outside Milan city hall to show he was working. 'The Tricolore doesn't represent me,' Salvini said of the Italian flag in 2014. Salvini took control of the right-wing coalition that won the most votes in March's election when his League party surpassed ally Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia But by 2018, he was campaigning as far south as Matera in the impoverished Basilicata region, where he promised 'order, rules, cleanliness' and railed against 'out of control' immigration. In a video on his Facebook page, which has more than two million fans, Salvini said he would work to 'stop the landings' once in power. He opposes same-sex unions wants to deport foreign criminals and sparked outrage on Monday when he promised a head count of Italy's Roma community and to throw out those without legal status. And as talks were under way to form the new government, he posted a photo of himself standing next to a bulldozer on Twitter with the message: 'We're working for you.' Since taking over the League, Salvini has forged alliances with other far-right Europeans like France's National Front and Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders. Despite positive words for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Salvini in 2013 called the EU a 'gulag' like the 'Soviet Union' saying he would work to try and leave it. A savvy social media user, he has managed to successfully push his agenda online, updating his followers daily with constant updates, live videos, photos and even pictures of what he eats. Although happy to talk about his two children - 14-year-old Federico and Mirta, five - he is less happy to discuss his complicated love life. Currently living with glamorous model and TV presenter Elisa Isoardi, his children are from two previous relationships, one with ex-wife Fabrizia Ieluzzi, a political journalist, and the other with former girlfriend Giulia Martinelli. Advertisement