France tells Italy working alone on migration issue won't have results

Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-26 21:20:11|Editor: Shi Yinglun
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PARIS, June 26 (Xinhua) -- French government's spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux on Tuesday warned Italy that it would fail in tackling migration crisis if it would act unilaterally, stressing the need to unite effort in the European bloc to come out with the adequate alternative.

In an interview with RTL radio, Griveaux warned that migration "is a very serious subject on which Europe is shattering," calling on European partners to overcome this challenge with a united stance and coordinate way.

"When Europe works together, when we go out of national egoism, we have results. (Italian interior minister) Matteo Salvini will have worse results by remaining alone," Griveaux said.

"Today, we have open centers under Italian authority that can not monitor migrants flows. We want closed centers under European authority that allow to tell those who arrived if whether or not they are eligible for asylum," he added.

Ways to relocate migrants and share refugees have fuelled tension between Paris and Rome after anti-migration Italian cabinet refused to let a stranded migrant ship dock.

Earlier this month, Italy and Malta refused to let the rescue ship Aquarius reach their ports, stranding hundreds of migrants in the central Mediterranean for days, before Spain accepted to welcome it.

The Lifeline, a second rescue ship with more than 230 migrants abroad, was stuck in international waters at time Europe suffers deep division over the issue.

According to Griveaux, "a European solution may be to have the ship dock in Malta. It is the solution that seems to be shaping up... "

"France would then be ready to send a team there to study individual (asylum) requests," he said.?

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