The humanitarian ship Ocean Viking docked this Friday at the military port of Toulon, in southern France, and the 230 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, began to disembark, according to maritime authorities.
After three weeks of searching for a safe harbor in Italy, the Ocean Viking arrived at the dock in France around 8:50 am (7:50 am in Lisbon).
At a press conference held this Thursday in Paris, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, said that France had decided to host the humanitarian ship ‘Ocean Viking’ “in an exceptional way”, with 234 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, but would adopt sanctions against Italy. for refusing to accept the ship and wants the European Union to do the same.
In addition to the “suspension with immediate effect” of the reception of 3,500 refugees, France will strengthen border controls with Italy, the minister said.
“The Italian government is the loser,” he considered, and reiterated that “there will be extremely strong consequences in the bilateral relationship” between the two countries and in Italy’s relationship with the European Union.
The 3,500 immigrants who were going to be transferred, next summer, from Italy to France were part of an agreement of the European mechanism for the relocation of refugees who arrive in the main host countries, specifically Italy, in other European countries.
Gerald Darmanin further argued that “all the other participants [neste mecanismo]in particular Germany”, also suspends the planned reception of refugees currently in Italy.
The ship, belonging to the European non-governmental organization (NGO) SOS Méditerranée, flying the Norwegian flag, had been at sea for 19 days, with 234 migrants, without having received authorization from the Italian authorities to disembark in the country.
As the NGO warned on Monday, the situation on board was already “unbearable”, since the migrants show “significant signs of anxiety and depression”.
According to the interior minister, a third of the passengers will be relocated to French territory, but those who do not meet the criteria to be asylum seekers “will be returned directly”.
The new far-right government in Italy, headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, accuses the humanitarian organizations that rescue migrants at sea of encouraging the migratory phenomenon, for which it decided not to authorize or not respond to their requests to dock in Italian ports.
Several boats with hundreds of migrants remained for days off the Italian coast, despite the deteriorating health of the passengers.
Source: TSF
