French deny ‘sovereignty violation’ in Italy border spat

The normally sleepy border town of Bardonecchia finds itself at the centre of a diplomatic spat.

TURIN – France’s minister in charge of overseas customs was forced to deny that Italy’s sovereignty had been violated on Tuesday and called a meeting to address the issue, after a row over customs’ checks at a border town between the two countries escalated into a full scale diplomatic spat. 

 The denial follows an incident at the train station of the border town of Bardonecchia on Friday, where French officers demanded a Nigerian man provide a urine sample on Italian soil, suspecting him of drug trafficking. 

 The test came back negative and a local NGO working at the station launched a formal complaint, triggering the Italian government to summon France’s ambassador, Christian Masset, for a meeting regarding “a serious act considered outside the scope of cooperating between states sharing a border.”

 Nonetheless, Gerald Darmanin, France’s minister in charge of the border collaboration argued on Tuesday that “there was no violation of Italian sovereignty” and that the officers’ actions had been in keeping with an agreement on border controls in 1990. 

 He had previously issued a statement through the French Embassy in Rome attempting to clarify the situation. However, that failed to settle the matter, with Italian politicians becoming involved. 

 Never one to miss an opportunity, right-wing prime-ministerial hopeful, Matteo Salvini, pounced on the issue to continue complaining about the expelling of Russian diplomats in late-March by the outgoing Gentiloni administration. 

 Salvini complained that “instead of expelling Russian diplomats, [Italy] should remove French diplomats” following the dispute. In 2017, Salvini oversaw the signing a co-operation deal with Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party and has consistently courted the Kremlin’s approval.

 A meeting has now been scheduled in Turin on April 16 to confront the problem, with co-operation temporarily suspended between the two countries. 

 Meanwhile, Turin’s prefect, Renato Saccone, visited the station, thanking “workers and volunteers at the centre of Bardonecchia for the great work that they are doing in a project that is born out of the institutions and has grown from the commune of Bardonecchia.”

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