Rome--Italy and France engaged in a war of words Monday as a standoff over 250 Africans stuck at their common border exposed divisions over Europe's migrant crisis.
Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described images of migrants perched on rocks at the border town of Ventimiglia after being refused entry to France as a "punch in the face for Europe."
His French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve hit back by insisting that France was fully within its rights to send illegal immigrants or asylum seekers back to Italy.
The clash sets the scene for some tough exchanges when the two men and other European Union ministers meet Tuesday in Luxembourg for talks on the crisis.
Around 250 migrants -- most of them English-speaking Africans according to AFP reporters in Ventimiglia -- have been camped there for four days, protesting that they should be allowed to enter France on their way to their desired destinations in northern Europe.
"We will stay here tomorrow, the day after and even several months if it is necessary," said one of the Africans, 20-year-old Brahim from Darfur in Sudan.
"All we are asking is to be allowed to pass through France to get to other countries."
Alfano said the border scenes were proof that the migrants had no desire to stay in Italy. "They want to go to other parts of Europe and they consider our country as a transit country."
Cazeneuve dismissed that argument as irrelevant, citing the Dublin accords under which new arrivals in the European Union are supposed to be processed by the country in which they first land.
"The Dublin rules must be respected," the French minister said. "When migrants arrive in France that have been through Italy and registered there, European law applies and that means they must be returned to Italy," he told BFMTV.
AFP
