Border controls with Italy
Paris rejects takeover of Lampedusa migrants
September 19, 2023, 11:29 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Unlike Germany, France rejects taking over refugees from the Italian island of Lampedusa. Paris will help with the repatriation, but will otherwise remain strict on the matter. At the same time, Interior Minister Darmanin announced tougher border controls.
In the debate about accepting refugees from Italy, France rejected accepting migrants from the Italian island of Lampedusa. Paris has informed Rome that it is ready to help return migrants to countries “with which we have good diplomatic relations,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on French television. However, France itself will not accept any migrants from the island.
France wants a “position of determination” on this issue, Darmanin said on TF1. He also announced that he would “strengthen” controls on the French-Italian border. To justify this, Darmanin said that there is irregular migration in France and Italy, as well as throughout Europe, which must be combated. “And it is not the case that by accepting more people we can dry up the flow that affects our integration capacity.” According to Darmanin, 60 percent of the people who arrived in Lampedusa are French-speaking.
According to figures from the Interior Ministry, around 130,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, which is already almost twice as many as in the whole of 2022. Between Monday and Wednesday, around 8,500 people landed on the island of Lampedusa alone, just 145 kilometers north of Tunisia 199 boats. The number significantly exceeds the island’s population.
Germany is considering a voluntary takeover
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on European countries on Sunday to accept some of the migrants arriving in Italy. Von der Leyen presented an emergency plan. Germany is considering resuming its recently interrupted take-in of refugees from Italy under a voluntary agreement.
The Tunisian coast guard says it has intercepted more than 2,500 migrants and arrested dozens of people smugglers in the past few days. The National Guard also said dozens of boats had also been confiscated. In addition, around 1,900 African migrants from sub-Saharan countries were prevented from entering Tunisia via the land border.
There was a large-scale raid in the coastal region near Sfax at the weekend. According to the information, hundreds of security forces with the support of anti-terror units, aircraft and police dogs were deployed.