First modification:
This Friday, November 11, the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking docked in a port in the south of France with 230 migrants who were rescued by the humanitarian organization SOS Mediterranée when they tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach European soil. Meanwhile, Rome defends its position after Paris announced measures against it due to the refusal to receive migrants in its territory.
With 230 people on board, including 57 minors, the Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking ship docked this Friday at the Toulon military base, in the Var department, in France.
The passengers, who were rescued by the SOS Mediterranée organization, had been waiting weeks for authorization to dock at a European port.
The boat was carrying a total of 230 migrants who had been rescued off the Libyan coast in recent weeks, but a French helicopter evacuated four of the occupants due to serious medical problems while the ship was still at sea on Thursday.
After disembarking, the migrants received a medical evaluation and will later be taken to a detention center for a maximum of 20 days, where each case will be studied.
The authorities will determine the eligibility of each person to receive refugee status, according to Evence Richard, delegate of the French Government.
Those who fail to secure their stay in a European country after submitting to the study of the authorities, will be returned to their country of origin, explained the general director of Immigration, Éric Jalon.
Nine European countries will welcome part of those rescued from the Ocean Viking
Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta and Lithuania have pledged to take in two-thirds of the people who stay, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced.
The official also highlighted “European solidarity”, referring to the countries that showed their interest in receiving the migrants who are currently in France.
The minister took the opportunity to criticize Italy for refusing to accept the Ocean Viking’s request to dock at one of its ports, after spending almost three weeks on the high seas waiting for authorization.
The attitude of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni caused tension between Paris and Rome, for which Darmanin announced actions against Italy last Thursday.
The Paris measures seek to strengthen border controls with Italy and suspend the relocation agreement established at the European level for the distribution of migrants rescued by humanitarian ships.
Similarly, the French interior minister said his country will organize a meeting with the European Commission and Germany in the coming days to “draw the consequences of the Italian attitude.”
Italy defends its position and calls the French reaction “aggressive”
This same Friday, Giorgia Meloni described the reaction by France as “aggressive” and “disproportionate”, and also called for a joint solution to the migration crisis to be sought.
“The Ocean Viking, which today docked in a French port, is the first NGO ship to dock in France, which has generated a very harsh reaction towards a nation, Italy, which since the beginning of the year has brought almost 90,000 migrants into its national territory,” Meloni said during a press conference in Rome.
Meloni, who has been in office for just over two weeks, criticized France after saying that of all the rescued migrants who have arrived in Italy this year, France has only taken in 36.
During the last weeks, two humanitarian ships managed to dock in the Italian port of Catania, although only minors, families and people with health problems were allowed to disembark, the rest were returned to the high seas and were left waiting for other states receive them.
Meloni also criticized that his country “is the only port of landing for migrants from the Mediterranean.” Under international law, people rescued on the high seas have the right to disembark at the port closest to where they were found.
The leader of the Italian Government said at the press conference that she had communicated with France, Germany and the European Union agreeing that they have the same vision: the defense of the EU’s borders.
with EFE
