Matteo Salvini has branded French soldiers’ action as an “international disgrace”, they have driven two migrants across its border and dumping them in Italian territory. Now, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister demands an answer from its French counterpart.
Tensions between neighbouring countries have risen as Italy has accused France of inaccuracy by refusing to take in a fair share of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have reached Italy by boat since 2014. The migrant crisis hasn’t disappeared, it is only deepening despite all the efforts of EU.
On Friday, witnesses reported seeing a French police van cross the mountain border at Claviere, a village in vicinities of the Italian ski resort of Sestriere, and making two men get out in a wooded area before driving back the short distance to France. Such a strange activity of other country’s soldiers is totally unacceptable, believes Matteo Salvini and immediately contacts the French ambassador in Rome for more information.
Salvini dismissed the explanation of the head of the Hautes-Alpes region who called the incursion “a mistake” on Tuesday and demanded to know the identities of the two men, who he said were migrants. Salvini believes France has deliberately dropped the migrants in Italy.
“What happened in Claviere represents an unprecedented offence against our country,” Salvini wrote on Facebook. “We are facing an international disgrace, and (French President Emmanuel) Macron can not pretend nothing has happened.”
The tensions over migrants between Italy and France are continuing. Under EU rules they are meant to apply for asylum in Italy and not allowed to move to a third country. France has policed its borders increasingly vigorously, and loos to return to Italy any irregular migrants.
