Brussels, 18/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 18 May, the European Commission indicated that two days previously, it had received a response from the French authorities to its requests made on 29 April for information regarding strengthening of police controls at certain checkpoints in the border zone with Italy. This response, however, may not yet meet all the demands made by the Commission, explained the spokesperson for Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. Marcin Grabiec explained that according to an initial analysis of the French response, it appears that, “we still need further clarification” but refused to provide any additional information on this question.
In the middle of a spat with Italy, which had granted temporary residency permits and travel documents to Tunisian migrants who had arrived on Italian soil, via the island of Lampedusa, France decided to step up its controls in order to monitor the arrival of Tunisian migrants on its own soil but provided assurances that it was carrying out these controls in full respect of the Schengen rules. On 29 April, the Commission sent a letter to the French authorities, however, requesting further information about its action, the frequency of these controls and where they took place. On the same day, the Commission also sent a letter asking for further clarification from the Italian authorities on the modalities followed for granting these temporary permits. Italy had two weeks to respond but, according to the Commission, no Italian response was forthcoming on Wednesday 18 May. The Commission affirmed, however, that it was still confident that this response would be provided in the next few days. (S.P.trans/fl)