Athens, Greece—Four Mediterranean EU countries issued a joint statement on a dispute over the European agreement to help asylum seekers.
Italy, Greek , Malta and Cyprus reiterated their position in a statement on Saturday that they “cannot accept the idea that first-time entry countries are the only possible landing point for illegal immigrants in Europe”, while other EU member states receive “only a small fraction of the abnormal arrivals”.
These four countries condemn private charitable ships for their actions “totally autonomously from the competent state authorities” to save hundreds of migrants rescued at sea.
The Italian government has had a weeks-long standoff with humanitarian groups that rescued immigrants in the central Mediterranean. It believes that countries flying the ship-flag should accept immigration, not Italy, a position that has been strongly opposed by humanitarian groups, legal experts and human rights activists.
After ignoring repeated requests for safe ports, Italy took three ships carrying immigrants to ports in southern Italy, initially selecting only those considered vulnerable, including minors and ships with medical conditions to disembark. Eventually everyone was allowed to enter Italy. But the fourth ship, the Ocean Viking, remains in international waters, finally sailed to France after nearly three weeks of sailing at sea, and finally docked at Port of Toulon on Friday.
The Marine Viking incident led to diplomatic blasts between Italy and France after the new Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni thanked Paris for accepting immigration before France agreed.
French Interior Minister Gerald Dalmanin later announced that France withdrew from the “solidarity” mechanism approved in June to relieve pressure on front-line countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain by taking in asylum seekers. French officials also announced a new border check with Italy. #Toutiao Stars September List#
