Portugal guaranteed this Friday that it will welcome “some migrants” from the humanitarian ship ‘Ocean Viking’, which docked in Toulon, southern France, after three weeks looking for a safe port in Italy, and welcomed Paris for the role played in the process . .
“Portugal will do its part, receiving some of the migrants from the #OceanViking ship, in line with our national and European values. We salute the important role played by France in this process,” Portuguese Foreign Minister João Cravinho wrote on the social network. Twitter.
In the message, Cravinho made no reference to the Italian refusal to authorize the landing. The Lusa agency asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a comment on the behavior of the new Italian government, but has not yet received a response.
According to the French maritime authorities, following a decision taken “exceptionally”, the 234 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya began to disembark this Friday morning in Toulon, with Paris criticizing Rome for never having allowed the ‘Ocean Viking’. in Italy.
Portugal will do its part, receiving some of the migrants from the ship #OceanViking, consistent with our national and European values. We welcome the important role played by France in this process.
– Joao Cravinho (@JoaoCravinho) November 11, 2022
Faced with criticism of the sanctions, Paris, through the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, reinforced this Thursday the security on the border with Italy in a dozen border posts, increasing control in “service stations, secondary axes and motorways, especially the A8, road exits and toll points”, as indicated today by the General Directorate of the French National Police (DGPN).
Nearly 500 police and gendarmes (militarized police) were deployed at checkpoints at “authorized crossing points” to ensure “H24 security.” [24 horas]said the same source.
Although most of the entry routes for immigrants to France are located in the Maritime Alps, the reinforcement “extends to various points in the rest of the mountainous areas.”
The decision of Paris has already provoked a reaction from the new Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who criticized this Friday the “aggressive response” of France, which demands that the European Union (EU) also impose sanctions on Rome.
“When you talk about retaliation within the EU, there is something that is not working. The aggressive, incomprehensible and unjustifiable reaction of the French government caught my attention,” Meloni said, at a press conference, in which he assured that Italy could not not be the only destination for African immigrants.
“It is not intelligent to discuss with France, Spain, Greece, Malta or with other countries. I want to find a common solution,” said Meloni, for whom it is necessary to find “a European solution” to the migration issue.
According to the French Interior Minister, France also suspended “with immediate effect” the reception of 3,500 refugees, who were to be transferred, next summer, from Italian territory to French soil, within the framework of an agreement within the framework of the European mechanism relocation to other countries. The European countries of refugees arriving in the main host countries, namely Italy.
“The Italian government is the loser”, considered Gérald Darmanin, who reiterated that “there will be extremely strong consequences in the bilateral relationship” between the two countries and in Italy’s relationship with the EU.
In the same statements, Gérald Darmanin also defended that “all the other participants [no mecanismo]in particular Germany”, must also suspend the planned reception of refugees currently settled on Italian territory.
The ‘Ocean Viking’, of the European non-governmental organization (NGO) SOS Méditerranée, with a Norwegian flag, spent 19 days at sea, with 234 migrants on board, awaiting authorization from the Italian authorities to dock in a port Italian.
As the NGO warned on Monday, the situation on board was already “unbearable”, since the migrants showed “significant signs of anxiety and depression”.
According to the French 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.
Italy is covered by the so-called Central Mediterranean route, one of the deadliest migratory routes, which leaves Libya, Algeria and Tunisia towards Europe, specifically the Italian and Maltese territories.
Source: TSF
