Gérald Darmanin announces that France “will not welcome migrants who come from Lampedusa” except “political refugees” | EUROtoday

France “will not welcome migrants” from the Italian island of Lampedusa, topic for a number of days to a big inflow of migrants, declared Tuesday, September 19, on TF1, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, displaying the “position of firmness” of the federal government on this matter.

The case of asylum seekers, for instance for political causes, is after all totally different, conceded Mr. Darmanin, who nonetheless minimized their presence among the many migrants disembarked in Lampedusa. “It is not by welcoming more people that we will dry up a flow which obviously affects our integration capacities”he continued.

“On the other hand, we told our Italian friends that we were ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”declared the Minister of the Interior, citing Ivory Coast and Senegal. “We must distinguish migrants from people who are political refugees”he clarified.

Berlin introduced on Wednesday the suspension of the voluntary reception of asylum seekers from Italy, offered for by the European agreements, on account of a “strong migratory pressure” and Rome’s refusal to use these identical agreements.

Emmanuel Macron had defended a “duty of European solidarity” with Italy, confronted with the inflow of migrants in Lampedusa, saying that work was underway between the 2 governments and that “decisions will be[aie]not taken ».

Around 8,500 people from North Africa landed on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lampedusa, one of the main gateways to Europe, the equivalent of the local population on this island, which has since declared a state of emergency.

This situation put the island’s reception capacities under great strain, generated a political shock wave in Italy and relaunched the thorny question of European solidarity in terms of the distribution of asylum seekers to support the countries. on the front line of these arrivals.

The minister downplayed the presence of asylum seekers amongst Lampedusa migrants

On the topic of asylum seekers, Mr. Darmanin admitted that it was crucial ” distinguish “ their scenario with that of nearly all of migrants, whereas passing this duty on to the Italian authorities. “If people are eligible for asylum, [si] they are persecuted sexually, politically, religiously, obviously it is the duty of France like other European countries to welcome them”, he admitted. But he downplayed the presence of asylum seekers amongst Lampedusa’s migrants, saying nearly all of them had been not fleeing persecution. “They are not Afghans, they are not Syrians”he insisted.

The minister additionally introduced that he had determined to ” to strenghten “ controls on the Franco-Italian border: the police and gendarmerie personnel assigned to this activity will improve from 500 to 700, he stated.

It is not deliberate that Gérald Darmanin will go to Lampedusa, because the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, did on Sunday, to be able to current the emergency assist plan for Italy, clarified the minister’s entourage.

This ten-point assist plan, meant to handle the emergency of migratory flows in the direction of Italy, plans to raised distribute asylum seekers between European international locations and even to facilitate returns. It is meant to mix firmness in opposition to smugglers and facilitation of authorized channels of entry into the European space for folks eligible for asylum.