“Beyond the emotion for the fate of the people, the reception of the Viking Ocean in France marks a turning point in immigration policy in France. When in 2018 the creation of a hot spot in Toulon I opposed with all my strength and I resigned”. The message posted on Twitter by the former interior minister this Friday, November 11, the morning of the docking of the Ocean Viking and her 230 migrants in Toulon, did not go unnoticed.
Four years after leaving the government, he returns to the reasons for his resignation and justifies why he breaks his silence today: “If I had said it then, Marine Le Pen could have been elected”. So much for the political side of the case.
Locally, remember in particular that Toulon was one of the French cities aimed at becoming a hot spot.
What is a Hotspot?
In the mid-2010s, the European Union was faced with the issue of migrants. A situation where member states are tearing each other apart, symbolized by Reception of Aquarius, rejected by Italy, not accepted by France, then taken by Spain. In response to this observation, it intends to develop the “hot spot” system launched in 2015, to officially “sort” migrants to the margins of Europe or outside the Union.
And “access point”, called “Regional disembarkation platforms”, or “closed centres”, is a place where migrants gather to complete administrative formalities and offer the possibility to those who wish to apply for asylum. In these centres, the European Union provides logistical assistance in “the registration, identification, fingerprinting and collection of testimonies of asylum seekers, as well as repatriation operations”.
Where do we find it?
According to the European Commission, this approach aims to “provide immediate assistance to Member States exposed, on the front line, to disproportionate migratory pressures at the external borders of the EU”, recalls Louise Tassin in 2019 in her report of surveys carried out in Lesbos and Lampedusa. Since the late 2000s Greece and Italy have become the main routes of irregular entry into the European Union.
Result, if initially it does not bear the name, a first center was installed in Fylákio in March 2013 in the north of Greece, near the Turkish border. In the following years, other closed centers will see the light in Greece. On the island of Lesbos (September 2015) but also on the islands of Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros.
L’Italy it will also have a hot spot, on the island of Lampedusa, first south of Sicily (September 2015). Four other centers were also created later.
Did a hot spot really come close to being created in Toulon?
This is what Gérard Collomb now says in an interview with Point. “Four years ago, migratory problems were already extremely important. The European Commission had launched the idea of controlled centers to welcome migrants. Shortly after, the Heads of State, meeting specifically to address migratory problems, took up this project again, Emmanuel Macron showing himself to be one of the most in favor of it”, He explains.
Above all, he affirms that the French president has proposed setting up one of these centers in Marseille or Toulon, in the face of the refusal of the Maghreb countries and Albania to accept these structures. “He asked the prefect of the time, Pierre Dartout, to work on it. At the time I was Minister of the Interior and I was totally against this project.
Why did Gérard Collomb refuse?
According to him, once migrants have entered French territory, it is almost impossible to remove them, as the Dublin agreements between European countries are not respected.
Above all, this will of the Head of State is formulated when the former Minister of the Interior will have to participate in the commemoration of the terrorist assassination of two young girls at the Saint-Charles station in Marseille, which took place a year later in advance. “The perpetrator, a Tunisian in an irregular situation, should have been placed the day before in an administrative detention center in Lyon to be deported. He was not, and the next day he took the train to Marseilles where he will commit this crime. “
