In the port of Marseille, the “Méditerranée” ferry of the Corsica Linea, which usually linked the city to the Maghreb, has been transformed into a floating hotel to accommodate up to 1,600 Ukrainian refugees.
Leased by the state to the Corsica Linea shipping company for an undisclosed amount, the red and white boat was preparing to receive its first Ukrainian refugees on Tuesday afternoon, following a media visit.
Cinema room, playroom for children, nursery: the ship, whose orientation panels have been translated for the occasion, has 500 cabins that can accommodate up to 1,600 people for two months before resuming its usual rotations .
“This integration project”, underlined the prefect Christophe Mirmand, will allow access on board to employment center services, banks, training offers in French, as well as psychological support via Assistance -public hospitals in Marseille and other aid services via the Red Cross.
“The goal is to get people back to living as normal a life as possible,” Mirmand said.
“Marseille was made by its refugees, those who fled poverty. From the first days of the war, we mobilized. Someone fleeing the war, we don’t ask him for his papers, his skin color” , underlined for his part the socialist mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan.
The project set up thanks to the mobilization of companies from the professional federation UPE13, local authorities such as the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region and associations, is part of the measures developed by France to welcome Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army on February 24 and the bombardment of several of its cities, nearly 3.9 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their country, according to the UN.
The French State has undertaken to offer at least 100,000 reception and accommodation places.
A total of 12,636 temporary residence permits have been issued in France, for a population made up of 83% women and children, according to the latest figures provided by the government on March 24.
These temporary residence permits, which open rights and allow the schooling of children, were issued to 1,061 adults in the Bouches-du-Rhône, according to the prefecture.
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