According to one senior Italian official, Maurizio Massari, Italy’s ambassador to the EU, had told Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU’s commissioner for migration, that the situation in Italy had become so serious that it needed more assistance from fellow member states.
“It’s unsustainable that all the vessels doing search and rescue operations are landing in Italy,” said the Italian official. “We could deny the landing of boats that are not flying Italian flags and are not part of EU missions,” he added.
https://www.ft.com/content/28fad75d-156a-3590-96bb-56a569e541e1
avoid paywall:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aft.com+Italy+threatens+to+block+foreign+boats+with+migrants
just do it