Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
The Israeli Walla! website: We are running out of stockpiles, our forces are exhausted, and the lives of the captives are in danger. It is time for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Several wounded in an Israeli bombardment of a tent in al-Mawasi, south of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media: Three wounded, three killed in an ongoing operation in the Gaza Strip.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in southern Lebanon: Israeli artillery shelling targets the outskirts of the town of Shebaa
Al-Qassam Brigades: The targeting took place at the intersection of 'Street 5' with the western line north of Khan Younis
Al-Qassam Brigades: A NIMR armored personnel carrier carrying an Israeli soldier was targeted with an Al-Yassin missile north of Khan Younis
Israeli media: At least two soldiers killed by anti-tank missile fired at Israeli army forces in the Gaza Strip
Local Syrian sources: Mortar shells fell on more than nine villages in the Sweida countryside
Local Syrian sources: Dozens of dead and wounded have arrived at Sweida hospitals as a result of ongoing clashes at several locations in the western Sweida countryside
Local sources: Civilians, including children and women, were injured in the al-Maqous neighborhood of Sweida, in Syria, as a result of ongoing clashes

EU: New migrant plan approved after France-Italy spat

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 25 Nov 2022 22:52
4 Min Read

European interior ministers welcome an EU plan to improve the coordination of migrant arrivals, as thousands remain stranded.

  • x
  • EU ministers endorse new migrant plan after France-Italy spat
    A migrant child sits in a cardboard box with the inscription "France" aboard the Ocean Viking rescue ship on November 10, 2022, in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Italy and Corsica island. (AFP)

After a heated row between Italy and France over a refugee rescue boat, European interior ministers welcomed an EU plan to better coordinate the handling of migrant arrivals on Friday.

France has accused Italy of violating international law by turning away an NGO vessel, triggering crisis talks in Brussels to avoid a new EU row over the politically charged issue.

Read next: Italy's new far-right thrives on anti-immigrant discourse

The meeting was described as productive by all parties, but Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, stated afterward that they had agreed that "more can and must be done" to find a long-term solution.

The ministers will gather again at a pre-planned December 8 meeting to pursue the "difficult discussion", he said. 

Margaritis Schinas, the European Commission Vice-President in charge of "promoting our European way of life," stated that Europe could no longer accept another ad hoc solution. "We cannot continue working event-by-event, ship-by-ship, incident-by-incident, route-by-route," he said, recalling that previous crises had been seized upon by "populistic and europhobe forces."

Although the number of asylum seekers is still far lower than in 2015 and 2016, the dispute has already undermined a stopgap agreement to redistribute arrivals more evenly across the 27-nation bloc.

No more 'ad hoc' plans 

For years, Brussels has been struggling to agree on and implement a new policy for sharing responsibility for migrants and asylum seekers, but the row has brought the issue to the fore.

Related News

France-UK migration pact faces EU review and public backlash

Venezuelan Parliament demands return of 18 children detained in US

Italy's new government under the far-right leader, Georgia Meloni, refused to allow earlier this month a Norwegian-flagged NGO ship with 234 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean to dock.

The Ocean Viking eventually arrived in France, where authorities reacted angrily to Rome's stance, canceling an earlier agreement to accept 3,500 asylum seekers stranded in Italy.

The row jeopardized the EU's stopgap interim solution, prompting Paris to convene an extraordinary meeting of interior ministers from the 27 member states on Friday.  "The Ocean Viking crisis was a bit of improvisation," Schinas admitted, defending the new plan from his commission to better coordinate rescues and migrant and refugee arrivals.

"We have twenty specific actions, we have an important political agreement, everyone is committed to working so as not to reproduce this kind of situation."

Read next: France rejects 44 asylum-seeking applications

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin stated that France has no reason to accept migrants relocated from Italy if Rome "does not accept the law of the sea."

In addition, Darmanin's Italian opposite number Matteo Piantedosi played down the Ocean Viking incident, saying the meeting was "not dealing with individual cases or operational management." He stated that he had shaken hands with the French Minister and that there was a "convergence of positions" that would allow the ministers to resume discussions at their meeting on December 8.

As the 25th of September election nears in #Italy, the far-right is focusing its campaign on immigrants.
Will Italy submit to the far-right with its neo-fascist roots? pic.twitter.com/eZuMXx7Gxn

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) September 22, 2022

The previous plan was developed in response to complaints from Mediterranean countries closer to North African shores, such as Italy and Greece, that they were bearing too much responsibility for migrants.

A dozen EU members agreed to take in 8,000 asylum seekers, with France and Germany each accepting 3,500, but only 117 have been relocated.

While France and Italy debate high-profile cases of dramatic sea rescues in the central Mediterranean, other EU capitals are concerned about land routes through the Balkans. According to the EU border force Frontex, nearly 130,000 undocumented migrants have entered the EU since the beginning of the year, a 160% increase.

  • Migrant Crisis
  • Italy
  • France

Most Read

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Major ambush in Gaza kills 6 Israeli troops, injures dozens

Major ambush in Gaza kills 5 Israeli troops, injures 14

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Israeli soldiers are seen in Beit Hanoun ahead of an operation by the al-Qassam Brigades, undated (Al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)

'Israel' on blast as media exposes report discrepancies in Gaza ambush

  • Palestine
  • 8 Jul 2025
Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

  • Politics
  • 9 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
The Freedom Flotilla ship Handala as it departs for Gaza, where it aims to break the maritime blockade at a port in Syracuse, Sicily in southern Italy on July 13, 2025. (AFP)
Palestine

Freedom Flotilla's Handala departs Sicily in bid to break Gaza siege

The container ship CMA CGM Laperouse, left, docks at the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah, Sept. 29, 2021, in Savannah, Ga (AP)
Politics

US shipbuilding woes deepen as tariffs, outdated policies backfire

Gaza war raises ethical questions for ex-Obama, Biden officials
Politics

Mercenary firm tied to Gaza war crimes hires Obama-Biden PR operatives

'Israel' targets children in Gaza collecting water
Palestine

'Israel' strikes Gaza kids fetching water, blames it on 'malfunction'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS