France rejects 44 asylum-seeking applications
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After Ocean Viking docked a French port, Paris turned its back on 44 asylum-seeking applications.
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The Ocean Viking rescue ship sailing in the Mediterranean Sea on September 15, 2019. (AFP)
Rescued from the Mediterranean Sea, 44 migrants have survived to see their asylum applications rejected by Paris. According to the French Ministry of Interior, they will return to their country of origin.
After Italy refused access to the ship, France saw the Ocean Viking disembark the Toulon port, which triggered a diplomatic fracas over Europe's mishandling of migrants seeking asylum from North Africa.
Gerald Darmanin, the French Interior Minister, told parliament that 44 migrants - of a whopping 234 - would be deported "as soon as their health allows," revealing that others could also be sent home due to the increasing applications for asylums.
Darmanin said that the officials estimated that 60 of the migrants, who were mainly Syrian, Sudanese and Eritrean, could request asylum and that 44 were minors.
Regarding the migrants allowed to stay, France and Germany said they would take around a third of the migrants, with other migrants going to other EU states.
Paris has never allowed a rescue vessel carrying migrants from the Mediterranean Sea to land on its coast before - however, this time, along with Italy's nod, it has permitted it.
Under international maritime law, according to Paris, the Ocean Viking should have been granted access to the ports. However, under Giorgia Meloni's Italy, Rome is pushing other EU states to take more refugees.
As a retaliatory response, Paris scrapped a plan to take in 3,500 refugees in Italy - this came as part of the European distribution accord, attempting to make other EU states do the same.
Only 164 out of 88,000 asylum seekers made it into Italy this year according to Italian authorities.
France accepts migrant ship refused by Italy, vows retaliation
Following the migrant-rescuer ship carrying hundreds of asylum seekers being stuck offshore for three weeks, the ship finally docked in the French military port of Toulon after Italy’s far-right government refused to welcome it.
France agreed on Thursday to take the ship in, calling it an “exceptional” step and vowed to retaliate against Italy for disrespecting international laws. Paris called Rome "irresponsible" and "inhumane" for not welcoming the migrants.
Named the Ocean Viking, the ship operated by the European NGO "SOS Méditerranée" had picked up the migrants at sea near the Libyan coast before spending weeks seeking a port to accept them.
The 230 passengers, including 57 children, arrived at France’s port of Toulon. Four passengers facing serious health difficulties had been previously airlifted from the boat via helicopter a day before and transferred to a French hospital.
