Paris and Rome display their agreement on immigration except on sending to third countries

Paris and Rome on Friday welcomed the “effective cooperation” between the two countries on immigration, but Michel Barnier expressed reservations about Italy's controversial initiative to transfer migrants to third countries, saying it was not “transposable” to France.

On the French side, the Prime Minister accompanied by the tenant of Beauvau, the very right-wing Bruno Retailleau, and, on the Italian side, two ministers from the government of Giorgia Meloni which associates the right and the extreme right, Antonio Tajani (Foreign Affairs) and Matteo Piantedosi (Interior): the four men had a working meeting, then visited the police and customs cooperation center at the border post of Ventimiglia (Italy), an emblematic place of passage of migrants.

“We are very happy with this symbol that we bring of concrete, effective, daily cooperation between France and Italy,” affirmed Michel Barnier. “What we do ourselves (…), we do for ourselves, together, more effectively than each at home or each for himself. And we also do it for the EU.”

– “Defending Europe” –

“We are defending Europe,” added the head of Italian diplomacy, while for the first time, migrants arrested in Italian waters arrived in Albania, a little less than a year after the signing of a very controversial agreement between Rome and Tirana.

“I do not believe that this idea (of return centres for migrants in third countries, editor's note) is transposable to France,” stressed Michel Barnier, citing “legal and institutional reasons”, but committing to “cooperate even more with transit countries or countries of departure”.

The measure was later struck down by a Roman court while French and Italian ministers were meeting.

At a summit on immigration in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders agreed to “speed up” the expulsion of illegal migrants, but several of them had already distanced themselves from the Italian initiative, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who was “sceptical”, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier (c) and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau meet with police and customs officers in Menton, on October 18, 2024 in the Alpes-Maritimes © AFP – Valery HACHE

Back on the French side, in Menton, Michel Barnier was greeted by a dozen activists, including migrant advocate Cédric Herrou, who held up banners reading “No to fascism”. “Retailleau, shame of France”, shouted one of them.

“They prefer to agree with the far-right ideology rather than listen to those on the ground,” Cédric Herrou, head of the Emmaüs Roya community, where migrants work on the farm while waiting for possible regularization, had castigated earlier on X.

“The French are waiting for (…) an effective policy to control immigration,” Michel Barnier hammered home to the press.

He highlighted the need for a new law in France, less than a year after the last text on the subject. Objective: to apply “many articles” of the European pact on asylum and migration and add “certain” measures censored by the Constitutional Council, which promises new very tense debates, particularly within the presidential camp.

Another point of contention is the announced reduction in the credits allocated in the 2025 budget to the fight against illegal immigration, which has angered even the ranks of the right wing of Macron's party.

“This permanent gap between words and actions sows confusion and fuels doubts about the desire to put an end to years of laxity on migration,” also deplored the leader of the RN deputies Marine Le Pen.

“The budget as it was presented can still be improved,” tempered Bruno Retaillau.

The head of the French government, from the Republicans, participated on Thursday in Brussels in a meeting of his political family, the European People's Party (EPP, right), of which “a large part now takes up the themes of the three far-right groups on immigration,” underlines Marc Lazar, professor at Sciences-Po and at the Luiss University of Rome. And his fragile coalition is under close “surveillance” from the RN.

– “Stand out” –

Michel Barnier's visit to the Franco-Italian border also allows the former European Commissioner and Brexit negotiator to show his involvement in European issues, which he considers a “shared domain” with Emmanuel Macron.

(l-r) French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and French Prime Minister Michel Barnier during a meeting in Menton, on October 18, 2024 in the Alpes-Maritimes © AFP – Valery HACHE

By displaying its good understanding with the Italian government, the French government also wants to “stand out” from the previous executive, in particular the former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who had experienced moments of tension with Rome, recalls Mr. Lazar.

The two governments have agreed to create a cooperation unit in early 2025 to exchange information on migrant smuggling networks, based on the model of a structure operating between France and the United Kingdom.

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