Ship With 230 Asylum Seekers Docks In France After Italy Refuses Entry France

The French government agreed on Thursday to take the vessel back, calling it an “extraordinary” move and vowing to retaliate against Italy for failing to respect international law to grant the vessel port in Italian waters. In a deepening row over migration, Paris said Rome was irresponsible and inhumane for not coming to the rescue. The Ocean Viking, operated by the European NGO SOS Méditerranée, had picked up the migrants at sea off the Libyan coast before spending weeks searching for a port to take them. On Friday morning, the boat’s 230 passengers, including 57 children, arrived in the French Mediterranean port of Toulon after experiencing worsening conditions on board. Four passengers who were in serious health difficulties had earlier been airlifted from the ship on Thursday and taken to a French hospital. The boat’s passengers were expected to receive medical attention and be interviewed at a command center in the naval port of Toulon. Those eligible to apply for asylum could then be transferred to other European countries, nine of which – including Germany, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Portugal – have offered to accept a total of two-thirds of passengers in “solidarity”. Those France decided were ineligible to apply for asylum would be returned to their countries of origin, French Interior Minister Géral Darmanin said. France had never previously allowed a rescue ship carrying migrants to land on its shores, but said it did so this time because Italy had denied access. Darmanin said the asylum seekers were Italy’s responsibility under EU rules and that the French move to allow the ship to dock was an extraordinary measure taken on humanitarian grounds due to the serious condition of the many patients on board. He said they were rescued at sea when they were “a few hours from death”. Darmanin said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had been trying for days to get Italian authorities to accept international law that a vessel in distress could go to the nearest port. Asked about French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s comment that France was “dramatically” soft on immigration by allowing the boat to dock, Darmanin said: “What does Marine Le Pen want? Letting children die on that ship a few meters from our ports?” He said that Italy’s refusal to accept the migrants was incomprehensible and that there would be “serious consequences” for Italy’s bilateral relations with France and with the EU as a whole. He said Italian authorities were unprofessional in allowing the vessel to wait at sea for 20 days without a decision on whether it could dock. The standoff over the boat marks a rupture in Paris’s relationship with Italy’s new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots. Meloni hit back at France on Friday, telling a news conference that she was “struck by the aggressive reaction of the French government, which in my view is incomprehensible and unjustified.” As a result of the row, France has already decided to freeze a plan to take in 3,500 asylum seekers currently in Italy, part of a European burden-sharing deal.

title: “Ship With 230 Asylum Seekers Docks In France After Italy Refuses Entry France " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-17” author: “Terrell Auger”

The French government agreed on Thursday to take the vessel back, calling it an “extraordinary” move and vowing to retaliate against Italy for failing to respect international law to grant the vessel port in Italian waters. In a deepening row over migration, Paris said Rome was irresponsible and inhumane for not coming to the rescue. The Ocean Viking, operated by the European NGO SOS Méditerranée, had picked up the migrants at sea off the Libyan coast before spending weeks searching for a port to take them. On Friday morning, the boat’s 230 passengers, including 57 children, arrived in the French Mediterranean port of Toulon after experiencing worsening conditions on board. Four passengers who were in serious health difficulties had earlier been airlifted from the ship on Thursday and taken to a French hospital. The boat’s passengers were expected to receive medical attention and be interviewed at a command center in the naval port of Toulon. Those eligible to apply for asylum could then be transferred to other European countries, nine of which – including Germany, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Portugal – have offered to accept a total of two-thirds of passengers in “solidarity”. Those France decided were ineligible to apply for asylum would be returned to their countries of origin, French Interior Minister Géral Darmanin said. France had never previously allowed a rescue ship carrying migrants to land on its shores, but said it did so this time because Italy had denied access. Darmanin said the asylum seekers were Italy’s responsibility under EU rules and that the French move to allow the ship to dock was an extraordinary measure taken on humanitarian grounds due to the serious condition of the many patients on board. He said they were rescued at sea when they were “a few hours from death”. Darmanin said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had been trying for days to get Italian authorities to accept international law that a vessel in distress could go to the nearest port. Asked about French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s comment that France was “dramatically” soft on immigration by allowing the boat to dock, Darmanin said: “What does Marine Le Pen want? Letting children die on that ship a few meters from our ports?” He said that Italy’s refusal to accept the migrants was incomprehensible and that there would be “serious consequences” for Italy’s bilateral relations with France and with the EU as a whole. He said Italian authorities were unprofessional in allowing the vessel to wait at sea for 20 days without a decision on whether it could dock. The standoff over the boat marks a rupture in Paris’s relationship with Italy’s new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots. Meloni hit back at France on Friday, telling a news conference that she was “struck by the aggressive reaction of the French government, which in my view is incomprehensible and unjustified.” As a result of the row, France has already decided to freeze a plan to take in 3,500 asylum seekers currently in Italy, part of a European burden-sharing deal.