Telegraph.co.uk
Thousands of North African migrants could seek to enter Britain
Thousands of North African migrants could seek to enter Britain after Italy announced on Thursday that it would grant travel permits to more than 20,000 Tunisian refugees.
Image 1 of 2Tunisian migrants wait to be transfered out of the Italian island of LampedusaPhoto: AFP/GETTY
Image 1 of 2Italy's interior minister said that more than 25,000 undocumented migrants have landed in Italy so far this yearPhoto: REUTERS
5:23PM BST 07 Apr 2011
The temporary permits will grant the refugees freedom of movement within the visa-free Schengen area.
Although the Schengen area excludes Britain and Ireland, migrants could attempt to enter the UK illegally from the Continent, as tens of thousands of others have done over the last decade.
The Italian initiative set up a showdown between Rome and Paris, with the French saying they would block the Tunisians, many of whom have converged on the Italian frontier town of Ventimiglia in the hope of crossing the border.
"The prime minister will today sign a decree giving those already in Italy ... a temporary residence permit for humanitarian protection that will allow them to travel around the Schengen zone," Roberto Maroni, Italy's interior minister, told parliament.
Mr Maroni said that more than 25,000 undocumented migrants have landed in Italy so far this year on 390 boats – mainly on the island of Lampedusa, a tiny outcrop that is closer to North African than to mainland Italy. The majority – 21,000 – are from Tunisia.
On the (perhaps dubious) assumption that intervention is morally right, this is just an aspect of moral behaviour not being costless. This is unsurprising. The real argument (as you have made elsewhere, although we disagree) is that the action isn't in fact moral: either because motives are mixed (eg. oil money is a component of the motivation, or there is a certain 'will to power' that is overruling local opinion), or that it will give a worse outcome than not intervening.
AntwortenLöschenSticking to the argument as it appears here (that intervention has a cost to us), it is legitimate to ask whether it is in fact worse or better than non-intervention would have been. Sadly, I don't have enough data (or time ATM) to make a judgement on this.
A great comment, Tim!
AntwortenLöschenAs far as I know, most of the North Africans want to go to France. A good opportunity for the Gaelic Cock to show activism again, before the elections in France. Maybe he'll send them to Romania and the Romanian gypsies to North Africa, as a variation... or vice versa...