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Latest update: 08/04/2011
- France - immigration - Italy
France and Italy seek to defuse diplomatic spat
In an attempt to defuse a diplomatic row, Italy and France agreed Friday to jointly patrol Tunisia’s coast to try to curb the flow of migrants who have been heading to Europe, many hoping to reach France via the Italian island of Lampedusa.
AFP - Italy and France agreed Friday to carry out joint patrols off Tunisia's coast to block migrants headed for Europe, with the French interior minister saying there was no "duty" to take in the boat people.
Following the arrival of thousands of migrants from the former French colony in recent weeks, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said after meeting French counterpart Claude Gueant that there would now be "joint air and sea patrols".
Gueant said the EU's border agency Frontex would control these patrols.
"Neither Italy nor France has a duty to host the migrants," the French minister said, while Maroni called for "joint action" by Europe on immigration.
A diplomatic row between Italy and France has escalated after Italy on Thursday agreed to grant six-month residence permits to more than 20,000 mostly Tunisian migrants and said this would allow them to travel around Europe.
Many of the migrants arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa say they want to travel to France and hundreds have been arriving in the Italian town of Ventimiglia on the border with France, which has been sending them back.
Gueant earlier said that France did not want to "suffer a wave" of migrants and stressed that even those armed with permits would not be allowed to cross into France if they did not have identity papers and sufficient funds.
"We have agreed on the interpretation of the Schengen treaty," Gueant said on Friday, adding there was "complete agreement with Roberto Maroni".
"It's clear that the residence permits the Italians will give allow freedom of movement but this is limited by the conditions defined by the treaty."
Gueant said that Italy and France would also grant Tunisia economic aid.
The EU's Schengen visa-free zone -- which includes all of the European Union member states except for Britain and Ireland -- has gradually eased internal border controls within Europe while beefing up external borders.
A total of 25,800 undocumented migrants on 390 boats have arrived in Italy so far this year, including around 21,000 who said they were from Tunisia.
Many of the Tunisians said they were fleeing a dire economic situation after the ouster of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January.
The row between France and Italy dominated Italian newspaper headlines.
"Paris and Rome at War" "Italy-France Confrontation" "Row with France" read some of the headlines, with Corriere della Sera daily accusing France of "duplicity" and Il Giornale saying that the migrants were "a human bomb".
France "is questioning the spirit of a treaty and one of the fundamental points of the European system," Corriere della Sera said.
Several commentators argued that France's intransigence over the migrants was dictated by the rise of the far-right National Front.
Party leader Marine Le Pen has been put ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in some recent opinion polls for the 2012 election.
"The French domestic situation is having a major effect with the fact that Marine Le Pen, leader of a xenophobic right, has become one of the favourites," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview.
Immigration is set to top the agenda at a summit between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome on April 26.
Maroni struck a deal with Tunisia earlier this month under which migrants who have already arrived will receive permits but any new arrivals will be deported under a new arrangement that facilitates expulsions.
As part of the agreement with Tunisia, a first plane left Lampedusa late Thursday for Tunis carrying some 30 migrants.
Italy has also agreed to provide Tunisia with boats and jeeps to step up its coastal patrols and prevent more migrants from leaving its coasts.
France detained 2,800 undocumented Tunisian migrants in March alone, Gueant said on Thursday, adding that most had already been sent back to Italy.
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Give them a chance
I am a US citizen currently living in France (as a student at a Catholic institute). I have a Tunisian boyfriend. He has lived here for over 24 years and most of his family is in Tunisia. With the country in turmoil it is almost impossible for his family to visit and makes it hard for him to even communicate. The Tunisian people are mostly peaceful. It makes me very angry about what you said jaswinder singh. You have no idea how it feels to have this burden. Where ever you are from must be free and happy. These people are trying to escape from being killed and rejoin with members of their family who have had better lives. Put yourself in their situation and you will understand why they are risking their lives, living in "CAMPS", and spending hours waiting so that they can have the opportunity that they wouldnt have in their countries. It is racial slur/discrimination to say that most of these immigrants have criminal records! Do you know these people personally?? I dont think you do! You assume things because all you hear on the News and TV is bad things about these people. They do not create problems, their government is creating problems. Yes unemployment is at an all time low... but that is in every country. No matter where people live this will always be a problem! Over population has caused this not these people!
What these countries need is help, like Samuel Smyth stated, they need to rebuild their government and get on track. Rebuilding after an economic collapse is crucial and very difficult. Try to understand what they are going through and look through their eyes. They are scared and fear that the only way to make their short lives better is to find somewhere where they can have peace of mind.
More apporpriately.
It would make more sense for the Tunisians living in France to be repatriated to Tunisia, where they can use the skills acquired in France, to develop Tunisia's post-Ben Ali/Trebelsi economy. This could be expedited by not giving €200-million to Italy, to look after the immigrants, but instead, investing that 'ransom', in Tunisia, where the immigrants could rejoin their families. This would also help to pull the rug from under Marine Le Pen and the Front National.
italy has become heaven of illeagal peopls
it has no doubt that italy has become heaven of iileagal peopls from africian region its amaging italian police failed to sytop them
they have no record whose they r where from they r from italy they managed to enter france and all eu countries
most of them has criminal recrds in there home country
they creat too much problems
for local peopls and biggest challange for government
due to rise of unemployment
its matter of surprise they got political stay on forged papers
they are big threat to europen community
there is no base of immigrant peopls n these countries
it seems
government is helpless