Aquarius. Emmanuel Macron calls into question the (Italian) coastguards
(B2) A sentence went relatively unnoticed at the Franco-German summit in Meseberg. Responding to a question from a reporter about the fate of theAquarius, French President Emmanuel Macron has once again tackled the Italian government of Giuseppe Conte, and in particular his Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini.
An indirect tackle, of course. But very precise. He recalls an important point in the trajectory of the SOS Méditerranée ship, theAquarius.
« The problem with the Aquarius is from the moment the boat leaves Libyan waters. That's when some coastguards put them on a boat and start accompanying them. It does not arise a few kilometers from the coast. »
The Italian government implicated
Using the word " certains “, the president did not want to specify” Italian ". But he thought about it very hard. Likewise, he did not accuse the Italians of having staged a coup. But he thought about it very hard.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Even if there is eel under rock, one must wonder why the ships of the NGOs will not deposit their migrants in the country of registration of the boat? Because it is a little too easy to finance NGOs from Germany to operate on Italian shores.
Certainly the distance and the time wasted will limit the effectiveness of the action of the NGO, but it must all the same be remembered that the Germans and those who finance the NGOs watch all this “on TV while having an aperitif”.
Your reasoning remains theoretical: if the NGO's ship does not collect them, another will have to do so. This is the real problem of this crisis which began long before the NGO ships arrived.
This means that if a ship flying the FR or Kerguelen (merchant) flag – obligation of the law of the sea – should divert to France or the Kerguelen to leave the survivors there. This does not seem really realistic in view of the charges of the merchant navy.
As for Germany, look at how many refugees/migrants it received in 2015 and how many France received. Ditto during the crisis / wars of Yugoslavia. And you will have part of the answer. Contrary to what is often said, France does not have a tradition of welcoming refugees as developed as other European countries. On the other hand, it has a stronger tradition of integration or incorporation of migrants or naturalized than in other countries (because of the colonies). Immigration and asylum issues are very complex and cannot be reduced to a few crippling options