It is a statement that is not likely to warm the already tense relations between Paris and Rome. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni "is unable to solve the migration problems" of Italy, which is experiencing record arrivals via the Mediterranean, said Thursday (April 4th) the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.

"Mrs. Meloni, far-right government chosen by the friends of Mrs. (Marine) Le Pen, is unable to solve the migration problems on which she was elected," said the minister, questioned in the program "Les grandes gueules" of RMC on remarks of the president of the National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, concerning the migratory situation at the Franco-Italian border.

"Yes, there is an influx of migrants and especially minors" in the south of France, acknowledged Gérald Darmanin, who blames the Italian neighbor: "The truth is that there is in Tunisia (...) a political situation that means that many children in particular go up through Italy and that Italy is unable (...) to manage this migratory pressure," he insisted.

"Meloni is like Le Pen, she is elected on 'you will see what you will see' and then what we see is that it (immigration) does not stop and that it is amplified," continued Gerald Darmanin about the head of the Italian government, confronted, according to him, with "a very serious migratory crisis".

Clandestine crossings on the rise

Enough to trigger a new diplomatic crisis on this hot topic? Already in November, the two countries had experienced a strong outbreak of fever when the government of Giorgia Meloni, just in power, refused to let dock the humanitarian ship of the NGO SOS Méditerranée, which had ended up being welcomed for the first time by the France, in Toulon.

The episode had angered Paris, which had convened a European meeting so that this unprecedented scenario would not happen again.

Since then, clandestine crossings by boat have increased, with the rise of a new maritime corridor between Tunisia and Italy, on the front line at the gates of Europe.

According to the Italian Interior Ministry, more than 36,000 people have arrived via the Mediterranean in Italy this year, compared to about 9,000 during the same period in 2022.

In this context, the French Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, announced, at the end of April, the mobilization of 150 "additional" police and gendarmes in the Alpes-Maritimes to "face increased migratory pressure at the Italian border", as well as the creation of a "border force", a force at the borders.

"In Australia, it works very well," defended Thursday, Gerald Darmanin: "At the border, we stop people and make them pass identity checks," he explained.

At the Franco-Italian border, the State must "accompany" and "work with Mr. (Éric) Ciotti", the president of the Republicans and deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes, who recently called on the government to mobilize "massive means to stop the migratory submersion underway at the border".

Upstream, in the Mediterranean, assured in April the International Organization for Migration of the United Nations (IOM), the first quarter of the year 2023 was the deadliest for migrants since 2017.

With AFP

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