PARIS (Reuters) – The 230 migrants from the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking, which arrived at the military port of Toulon (Var) on Friday morning with the agreement of the French authorities, were taken care of on their arrival with a view to possible reception in France or relocation to another European state.
France announced on Thursday the “exceptional” decision – a first – to welcome the boat chartered by the NGO SOS Méditerranée in the face of Italy’s refusal to let the red-hulled ship dock in one of its ports as provided for in international maritime law.
Italy, through the voice of the President of the Council Giorgia Meloni, regretted on Friday “the aggressive reaction of the French government” towards it, judging it “incomprehensible and unjustified.”
SOS Méditerranée had rescued 234 migrants, including 57 children, off the coast of Libya at the end of October. Four people were transferred by helicopter Thursday to the Bastia hospital center (Haute-Corse).
“Of the 230 people who were on board the ship Ocean Viking this morning, all disembarked and most were transferred to the Giens accommodation center. All transfers should be completed by mid-evening,” said declared Friday evening the Var prefecture in a press release. “All those transferred to the accommodation center have expressed their willingness to seek asylum,” she added.
Migrants also had to undergo, prior to the examination of their asylum application in the accelerated procedure, a “security check” in conjunction with the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI).
This center “is intended to remain open for about twenty days”, said the prefect of Var, Evence Richard, during a press conference during the day in Toulon.
DIPLOMATIC TENSION
Nearly 600 people were mobilized for their care, including several hundred members of the police.
Sixteen agents from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra), assisted by interpreters, will notably conduct interviews during the weekend with each of the migrants.
“People who are not intended to stay in France or benefit from relocation to another European state” will be sent back to their country of origin, said Eric Jalon, the director general for foreigners in France. The others will be taken to other accommodation centers so that their asylum application can be examined on the merits.
France is committed to welcoming “a third” of migrants. Nine other European countries (Germany, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Luxembourg, Ireland) stand ready to take care of the other passengers. “Contacts are still in progress with other European capitals,” said Eric Jalon on Friday.
In a new bout of diplomatic tension, French authorities have denounced Rome’s “irresponsible” and “inhumane” attitude, where far-right leader Giorgia Meloni has toughened Italy’s migration policy while pleading with Brussels for more European solidarity in this area.
A delicate balance between domestic and diplomatic policy which is also imposed on President Emmanuel Macron, who has taken the risk of rekindling the controversy over French immigration policy, between firmness and humanitarian law, in the ranks of right-wing opposition in particular.
“TROJAN HORSE”
In 2018, France, in another conflict with Italy, refused to welcome a humanitarian boat, the Aquarius, with more than 600 migrants on board, which finally docked in Spain. “We must never give in to the emotion that some manipulate,” Emmanuel Macron said at the time.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced Thursday that France is temporarily renouncing the relocation of 3,500 migrants to Italy under the European solidarity mechanism established this summer. He spoke more generally of “extremely strong consequences on the bilateral relationship”.
The president of the National Rally (RN) group in the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, denounced Thursday “a dramatic signal of laxity”. The leader of the senators LR Bruno Retailleau, candidate for the presidency of the Republicans, asked for the return of the migrants to their countries of origin, believing that the Ocean Viking was the “Trojan horse of irregular immigration in Europe ” .
The president of Reconquête, Eric Zemmour, went to Toulon with Nicolas Bay, MEP, and the ex-MP Marion Maréchal, in particular, to denounce a “very serious event”.
“It is an important and absolutely scandalous decision taken by the President of the Republic who himself declared four years ago that humanism was not the right feeling,” he told reporters. journalists.
“It weakens France which now will have to welcome even more migrants. It despairs even more the French who are all hostile to this crazy immigration and moreover, it makes migrants who will cross the Mediterranean take incredible risks”, a- he added.
(Written by Sophie Louet and Jean-Stéphane Brosse)