Italy, France in diplomatic spat over border drug test

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Europe

A urine test for drugs has prompted a minor diplomatic spat between Rome and Paris, with Italy’s foreign ministry on Saturday summoning France’s ambassador to explain the actions of French border police officers.

Rainbow4Africa, an NGO running a clinic for migrants trying to cross the Alps in the Italian border town of Bardonecchia, filed a complaint after uniformed French customs officials turned up there late Friday and told a Nigerian man to provide a urine sample.

Italian officials reacted with outrage, with some politicians describing it as a violation of Italian territory, and French ambassador Christian Masset was summoned on Saturday over what Rome termed "a serious act considered outside the scope of cooperation between states sharing a border."

The Italian foreign ministry also said in a statement that it had conveyed Rome’s "firm protest for the behavior of the French customs agents, which was unacceptable."

Migrants start to walk in direction of the Colle della Scala, a snow-covered pass to cross the border between Italy and France, near Bardonecchia, Italy, January 13, 2018. /VCG Photo

The French government put out a statement explaining that French officials on board a high-speed TGV train from Milan to Paris came to suspect a passenger, a Nigerian national residing in Italy, of carrying drugs and asked him for a urine sample, which he consented to in writing.

To afford him some privacy, the test was conducted at the train station at Bardonecchia, the statement said, adding that everything was done according to procedure. The test was eventually negative.

The Italian foreign ministry however said France had failed to keep it fully abreast of developments.

It added that Paris had been told that the station was no longer accessible to its police because it was now being used by the NGO for humanitarian purposes.

Massimiliano Fedriga of the right-wing League, which made big gains in recent elections, complained after the incident that "French police do whatever they want on Italian territory without being disturbed, as if they are at home.”

“What happened in Bardonecchia is grave and shows how our so-called friends in Europe have little or no consideration for us," he said in a statement.

Italy’s foreign ministry said that the EU neighbors would address the issue further at a meeting in the northern city of Turin on April 16.

(Top picture: French police officers board a TGV train coming from Milan to Paris to control passengers at the Bardonecchia train station in Italy, January 12, 2018. /VCG Photo)

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters