Italy’s deputy Prime Minister has once again raised the tensions between Malta and Italy, saying that Malta is getting electricity from Italy but refusing to help with migrants.

 “We give Malta electricity, there is a cable that starts in Ragusa that gives Malta electricity, and Malta refused to help out the Aquarius, which was in its SAR [Search and Rescue] zone,” Luigi di Maio said when interviewed on Porta a Porta by Bruno Vespa.

This electricity is bought by Malta from European markets, through a link with the electricity grid. Di Maio seemed to imply that Malta is getting free electricity from Italy, when this is not the case.

The two countries have been at loggerheads since the Aquarius incident in early June, which saw Malta and Italy both refusing to take in migrants, who remained at sea until Spain offered to allow the ship to berth in Valencia.

“Nothing will be the same again (in terms of migration),” Di Maio added on Porta a Porta. "Now at least we know that there are other European ports open to migrants: in Spain and France".

After Spain's intervention, France had also taken in some of the migrants on the Aquarius.

The Italians deserve a Nobel prize for their patience on immigration issues, he said. 

Di Maio’s tough talk comes days after his colleague, Infrastructure Minister Danilo Toninelli, said that if Malta could not cope with its vast search and rescue zone it should hand over part of it.

Malta had replied that Tonelli either is misinformed or trying to stir controversy.

Members of the Cinque Stelle movement had also walked out of a conference which was being addressed by President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca in Sicily.