The Ocean Viking docks in Toulon, the disembarkation of passengers has begun

Listen to the audio version of the article

Escorted by French military boats and a helicopter, the ship Ocean Viking of the NGO Sos Mediterranee, with 230 migrants on board, 57 of them children, is docked at the military port – inaccessible even to journalists – of Toulon, in the south-east of France at around 8.30 this morning. The refugees were allowed to disembark “on an exceptional basis” by virtue of a “humanitarian duty”, the French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmarin, explained yesterday.

The 230 migrants, who have been at sea for three weeks also due to the refusal of the Italian government to indicate a “safe haven” for migrants, will be immediately placed “in a waiting area”. That is to say, as the Interior Ministry points out, “that they will not be able to leave the administrative center where they will be placed, and they will not technically be on French soil”. Health checks will then be carried out, followed by security checks by the services, and then they will be heard by the French Refugee Protection Office.

Those who do not receive asylum will be removed directly from the “waiting area”, which is located near Hyères, on the Giens peninsula, in the direction of their country of origin. One third of passengers with the right to asylum will be able to stay in France, the others will be distributed in nine European countries, including Germany, which has committed itself to welcoming 80 people, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Ireland.

New criticisms from the Paris government

“The treaties apply beyond the life of a government”, underlined the French Undersecretary for European Affairs, Laurence Boone, interviewed on France Info on the case of the Ocean Vikingy. The current Italian government “did not respect the European Mechanism” for which Italy was committed: “There is a break in trust because there has been a unilateral decision that puts lives in danger and that does not comply to international law, ”Boone added.

In an editorial dedicated to the story of the Ocean Viking and entitled “Macron caught in his trap”, the French newspaper Le Figaro attacks the Elysée and speaks of “a botched policy to tackle illegal immigration”. “By dint of saying or doing something and its opposite – writes Le Figaro – the executive has fallen into its own trap. How can a member of the Rassemblement National be accused of racism who opposed the arrival of the Ocean Viking on our shores in the hemicycle, when a week later Emmanuel Macron and Gérald Darmanin try by all means to repel that same ship? And in the same way, how can one be intransigent with the execution of the obligations to leave the territory, while hoping for the facilitation of the distribution of residence permits to help the sectors of activity in difficulty? All this resembles neither firmness nor humanity, but rather a botched politics ”.