Brussels, 04/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - With temperatures rising on Friday 1st April between France and the European Commission on the subject of Paris sending Tunisian illegal immigrants back to Italy, the French Minister of the Interior, Claude Guéant, wrote to European Commissioner Cécilia Malmström on Saturday 2 April, justifying France's actions, AFP reports. On Friday, Malmström suggested, subject to verification, that France was not fundamentally allowed to send these migrants back to Italy, nor to bring in, by virtue of the Schengen rules, controls on its borders, other than in the event of a major threat to public order, “which does not seem to be the case” today, the Swedish commissioner said.
On the part of the French, it was stated on Friday that the Commission's concern was mainly to do with bringing in systematic border controls, which are illegal under Schengen, but stated that this was not the case at the moment, as only “periodic checks” are being carried out in certain areas with high crime levels and high illegal immigration levels, one source explained.
In his letter to Malmström, Guéant stresses firstly “that the government, like many others in Europe, is awaiting proposals for decisive action on the part of the Commission to overcome the problems brought about by the current migratory situation in the Mediterranean”, the Interior Minister explained to AFP. The Commission had anticipated putting these proposals forward in June of this year, as it has twice been called upon to do by the European Council in its conclusions, and it is expected to start preparing these at the forthcoming Council of European Home Affairs Ministers, to be held in Luxembourg on 11 April.
Guéant also told her of his “astonishment at the fact that in her statements, the readmissions (Ed: returns) made by France of foreigners residing illegally in France had been called into question” and added that “these readmissions are naturally entirely in line with Community law, including the Schengen acquis”. The directive of 16 December 2008 known as the “Returns directive” “provides for the practice of readmissions of third country nationals residing illegally between member states on the basis of existing bilateral agreements. The Franco-Italian Treaty of 3 October 1997 lays down the legal framework in force, which we have followed to the letter”, wrote Guéant.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the head of the Italian government Silvio Berlusconi will also discuss issues related to the influx of immigrants since the start of the year, most of them from Tunisia, at a special summit, the Italian government announced on Sunday. This Franco-Italian summit was decided upon in a telephone conversation made by initiative of Nicolas Sarkozy, with Silvio Berlusconi also announcing on Friday 1st April that specific hosting centres were to be opened on Italy's northern borders, for those who have “expressed a wish of joining their relations or friends in France or Germany”, and that they would be issued with “residence permits” allowing them to “travel freely in Europe”, he explained. (S.P./transl.fl)