In his first international meeting, the French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, addressed the immigration issue in the approach of the Italian Government dominated by the extreme right of Giorgia Meloni, turning the page on a relationship damaged by this file in the previous majority in Paris.
On Friday, October 4, on the occasion of the G7 Interior Ministers’ summit, chaired by Italy, held in Campania, he announced in particular with his counterpart, Matteo Piantedosi, the signing of a declaration of intent on the creation of a Franco-French Union. -Italian. operational research unit. Dedicated to the exchange of information on “migrant smuggling”, cThis new entity should be established in Ventimiglia. Close to the French border, the city and its surroundings have been a transit point for migrants, rejections and tensions since Paris reestablished controls there in 2015.
More generally, France’s position is close to M.me Meloni, with the reinforced externalization of border control on the southern shore of the Mediterranean through agreements with transit and exit countries. Mr. Retailleau also stated, during the plenary session on migration, that Italy had played a pioneering role in this regard, to which France now intends to join.
Only the result counts
The Italian approach, presented as obedient to the principle of “give and take” It implies obtaining a strengthening of the repression of irregular migration in exchange for economic agreements. In this sense, the pact signed between the European Union (EU) and Tunisia in July 2023 serves as a model. This despite the serious human rights violations against migrants that have been documented in the country. Seen from European capitals, only the result counts: flows fell by 61% on the central Mediterranean migratory route during the first six months of 2024 according to figures from Frontex, the European border guard agency.
On Friday, Italy also included the Tunisian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, as well as the Interior Ministers of Algeria and Libya, in the meeting dedicated to migration. Organized in a luxurious wedding hall with a swimming pool in the town of Mirabella Eclano, in the Irpinia region, where Piantedosi is from, the summit gave the host country the opportunity to promote an approach to the migration issues that concentrate the majority of the efforts made. by Giorgia Meloni on foreign policy.
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