The “Ocean Viking” docked in France in Toulon on Friday morning. The fate of this humanitarian boat sparked several days of arm wrestling between Paris and Rome.
Article written by
Published
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
“We must have a policy between the countries of Europe for the distribution of refugees”declared on franceinfo David Cormand, MEP for Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV). The Viking Ocean arrived in Toulon on Friday November 11 with 230 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean on board.
Italy refused to accommodate the boat and this is due to the fact that the country “has just had a majority made up essentially of far-right parties. We can see the disorder that this causes. There is a broader responsibility which is a form of hypocrisy on the part of the European Union which does not assume the status that we have, that is, as rich powers that have the means to show solidarity with the refugees.”
“There is an element of hypocrisy because a number of the disorders that make people migrate to the European Union are root causes to which we are no strangers.”
David Cormand, EELV MEPat franceinfo
David Cormand wants us to get out of the Dublin regulations, which “that it is the countries in which the refugees first land who are supposed to manage them”. A first solidarity mechanism provides for the distribution of migrants between countries. The migrant problem “has arisen for us for several years and it will continue to arise because the conflicts continue. Today, the European Union subcontracts, in particular to Libya and Turkey, to block refugees in conditions that are a disgrace to our values”explains David Cormand.
The environmental group calls for Europe to support rescues at sea. “The European Union has the financial and logistical means to guarantee safety at sea”instead of letting the associations do it. “It should no longer be the smugglers who make the law in the Mediterranean, it is the values that are ours”concludes the MEP.