Italy issues temporary residency permits for migrants from Libya and Tunisia

Illegal migrants fleeing from Libya and Tunisia wait in the early hours of the morning for the doors of a police center in the northern Italian city of Vintimiliga to open. They want to apply for temporary residency permits that would lift them from a clandestine world of marginalization, from a continued state of anxiety.

Nour Eddine, an undocumented migrant, received a permit. He spoke about how lucky he was to obtain one in relatively few days. Now, he said, he could work legally.

Souhail, another migrant, who has waited for “too long,” said in angry tone that his patience was about to evaporate.

Italian authorities gave undocumented migrants eight days to apply for temporary residency permits. Italian authorities said they wanted to relieve the hardships of thousands of undocumented migrants who recently arrived from Tunisia and Libya by giving them documents that can allow them to travel to other European countries.

About 20,000 Tunisians have arrived in Italy’s Lampedusa Island in the weeks following the Tunisian revolt on January 14.

Most of the migrants holding centers across Italy have been packed; the temporary residency plan was designed to encourage some of the migrants to move to other European countries.

France has recently accused Italy of abusing the Schengen pact by issuing temporary residence permits and travel documents to migrants fleeing North Africa in the knowledge that many among the French-speaking Tunisians are headed for France.

“The governance of Schengen is failing. It seems there is a need to reflect on a mechanism that will allow, in case of a systemic failure of an external (EU) border, to intervene through a provisional suspension, until such time as the weakness is corrected,” a source close to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office told Reuters.

The European Commission, meanwhile, pointed out in Brussels that Schengen border controls could be reinstated “very temporarily, and if duly justified.”

The Schengen Agreement does not preclude suspension, but requires that only a “grave threat to the public order or internal security” could “exceptionally” justify the reintroduction of border controls for a maximum of 30 days.

This period could be extended if the threat persisted.

Earlier, Noora Faraj of Al Arabiya wrote:

A recent influx of migrants from North Africa is proving to be a major test for border controls across Europe, and is straining relations with neighboring countries in Europe.

The current concern is over the Schengen, a joint agreement between 25 of the 27 countries belonging to the European Union. The agreement allows free movement across the continent. The Schengen Agreement covers an area of 1.2 million square miles, and contains some 400 million people. Ireland and the United Kingdom do not participate in the agreement.

France caused a small diplomatic furor last weekend after stopping a train from Italy, which was transporting immigrants to a protest. This has contradicted the Schengen concept of intercontinental travel.

Friction has already occurred between France and Italy over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s decision to provide migrants with temporary resident permits, in what was an attempt to deal with the influx. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of Italy accused Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi of driving hordes of immigrants to Europe, saying it was retribution for Italy’s support of Libyan rebels.

Greece is dealing with its own influx of immigrants at the Turkey border, and that has led to Paris and Berlin suggesting the possibility of momentarily tightening its reigns on the EU’s external border restrictions, in the event that one of the member countries loses control over immigration.

A record number of 760 refugees arrived by boat in Lampedusa last Tuesday, according to Bloomberg News. The Associated Press reported that about 25,000 Tunisians have arrived in Italy after the protests began in December.

(Noora Faraj of AL Arabiya can be reached at: [email protected]. Mustapha Ajbaili, also of Al Arabiya, can be reached at: [email protected].)