It’s official: the passengers of the Ocean Viking will be received in Toulon this Friday. The humanitarian ship, which carries 234 people on board, including several dozen children, will be able to dock at the military port of Toulon, in the Var, Gérald Darmanin announced on Thursday.
“The seriousness of the situation on board was very important […] with 57 children, and many people were very sick”, justified the Minister of the Interior on the set of 20 hours of TF1.
When the ship arrives this Friday, starting at 8 am, all passengers will be located in a “waiting area”, explains the Ministry of the Interior. This international zone allows control procedures to be carried out without authorizing entry into French territory.
A medical examination and by the DGSI
All measures will be taken to “provide the necessary health and medical assistance to the ship’s passengers” and “to ensure adequate security checks by specialized services.”
Passengers “will not be able to leave the administrative center where they will be placed. They will not be in national territory in the legal sense of the term. A medical examination will be done later with the DGSI to see if there are no dangerous people,” specified Gérald Darmanin on the set of TF1.
An interview will then take place to establish the passengers’ eligibility for asylum in France. Your request will be “investigated within 48 hours by Ofpra”, specifies the Ministry of the Interior.
Asylum-eligible passengers will be welcome in France, but a large proportion will go to other European countries. Germany must take in “more than 80 people,” said Gérald Darmanin. Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland will also welcome immigrants in the name of “European solidarity”.
“Those who do not receive asylum will be transferred directly from the waiting area to their countries of origin,” the Ministry of the Interior finally explains.
Source: BFM TV
