Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
European divisions regarding dealing with the issue of immigration and asylum surface from time to time, despite the attempts of the European Union institutions to bridge the views of the member states in light of the clear divergence of positions.
The matter reaches a verbal exchange between officials in more than one of the member states and an exchange of accusations of failure and failure to deal with matters related to receiving illegal immigrants or dealing with their files.
According to news agencies, during the last hours, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taiani canceled his visit to Paris after statements made by the French Interior Minister that he considered unacceptable, in which he stressed the inability of the Italian Prime Minister to solve the immigration problem in her country.
On Thursday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan considered that Meloni was "incapable of solving immigration problems" in her country, which is witnessing the arrival of record numbers of migrants across the Mediterranean.
His words came in response to a question about the positions of the head of the French far-right National Rally Party, Jordan Bardella, regarding the immigration file at the border between the two countries, as the French security forces return migrants who want to cross into their lands.
"Mrs. Meloni, the far-right government chosen by Ms. (Marine) Le Pen's friends, is unable to solve the immigration problems after she was elected on this basis," Darmanin told RMC radio.
He added, “Yes, there is an influx of migrants, especially minors,” to southern France, blaming Italy for that, saying, “The truth is that in Tunisia (...) there is a political situation that pushes a large number of children to cross through Italy, and that Italy is helpless (... ) about dealing with this pressure from immigrants."
Rome responded quickly to these statements, with the Italian Foreign Minister canceling the meeting that was scheduled for Thursday evening in Paris with his counterpart, Catherine Colonna.
"I will not go to Paris to participate in the meeting that was scheduled with Minister Colonna," Taiani wrote on Twitter, noting that "Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin's insults against the government and Italy are unacceptable."