France mobilizes 600 officials and police to care for the rescued and repeats its “break of trust” with Italy
The humanitarian ship ‘Ocean Viking’ arrived today at the military port of Toulon (south-eastern France) with more than 200 migrants on board rescued by the NGO SOS Méditerranée after Italy refused to accept them in its ports.
The ship, carrying 57 children and 20 sick people, arrived in Toulon, near Marseille, around 8.30 am. Three migrants traveling aboard the ship had to be rushed to hospital in Bastia, Corsica on Thursday, amid fears that their lives would be in danger if they waited another day for their disembarkation.
The prefect of the Var department, Evence Richard, explained at a press conference that France has mobilized 600 officials, police, customs, gendarmes and health personnel to welcome the 230 migrants of the ‘Ocean Vikin’. Upon arrival in France, they all undergo a medical check-up to see if they need to be hospitalized or not. Officials from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) will interview them this weekend to determine whether their asylum application is valid.
Nine European countries (Germany, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland) have shown their willingness to receive migrants and refugees rejected by Italy. France will provide housing for a third of them.
Italy’s refusal to take in the rescued ‘Ocean Viking’ has led to tensions with the French government. Laurence Boone, Secretary of State for European Affairs, deplored “the breach of trust” with Italy this morning after the cabinet of the far-right Giorgia Meloni did not allow the humanitarian ship to dock in her country, violating the European rule that establishes they must disembark in the nearest port.
President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to take in the Ocean Viking migrants has been criticized by the French right and far right. “President Macron said at the ‘Aquarius’ a few years ago that you didn’t have to show good feelings and that you had to act decisively,” recalled Deputy Éric Ciotti, Republican candidate for the presidency of the moderate right. Ciotti accused the president of “again betraying his word” by now welcoming the “Ocean Viking” migrants and practicing “immigration laxity”.
National Regroupment, Marine Le Pen’s party, accused Macron of “adding to pressure from militant pro-migrant NGOs” and of “tooling human misery to advance their agenda in favor of mass and anarchist immigration” .
Le Pen’s party believes that once migrants are rescued in the Mediterranean, they should be taken to their port of departure and not landed in Europe. “Now that the National Regroup is in power, the protection of the French will be a priority and these ships will be prohibited from disembarking in French ports,” the far-right party promises.
Source: La Verdad
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