The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday summoned the French ambassador, after uniformed French customs officers crossed the border in the Alps to confront a man suspected of carrying drugs.
France said that the presence of its personnel at a railway station just inside Italy was acceptable.
However, French Ambassador to Italy Christian Masset was summoned over what Rome termed “a serious act considered outside the scope of cooperation between states sharing a border.”
The EU neighbors would address the issue further at a meeting in the northern city of Turin on April 16, the ministry added.
The Rainbow4Africa group, which has for months occupied part of the train station in the alpine village of Bardonecchia to aid refugees headed for France, filed a complaint after the French officials turned up there late on Friday and told a Nigerian man to provide a urine sample.
Italian officials reacted with outrage, prompting an official explanatory statement from the French embassy.
French Minister of Public Action and Accounts Gerald Darmanin, who is charged with overseeing customs, signed the statement that explained how French officials came to be present when the Paris-bound train arrived from Milan.
“These uniformed agents identified as French customs officials suspected one passenger, a Nigerian national resident in Italy, of having drugs on his person. In line with article 60 bis of the customs code the agents asked the person if he would consent to providing a urine sample to detect drugs, which he agreed to do in writing,” the statement read.
“In order to carry out the test in conditions respecting the person, the agents waited until the train arrived to use the facility at Bardonecchia station, which was placed at the disposal of French customs,” the statement went on, saying the procedure respected the guidelines laid down in 1990.
The French officials duly carried out the test, which came back negative, it said.
However, the Italian foreign ministry said France had failed to keep them fully abreast of developments, leaving Rome to slam the incident as “unacceptable.”
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