Le Figaro Nice
Hotel room "29" only has the number and the configuration.
For more than a month, the small room has been transformed into an office to manage the emergency accommodation of unaccompanied minors (MNA).
In Châteauneuf-Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes), about forty people occupy the Campanile hotel in this town in the hinterland.
In total, 21 rooms out of 47 accommodate them.
Day and night, some wander on the stairs, in the middle of the gardens or remain cloistered in their homes.
In a press release and a video shot on the spot, Friday, the deputy of the National Rally (RN) of the 2nd Maralpine district was alarmed by this situation.
He denounced "
a new requisition ordered last week by the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes"
after those of Antibes and Menton.
But it is not a prefectural requisition.
According to information from Le
Figaro
, the Department agrees with the Pierre-Valdo association to take care of unaccompanied minors in this hotel.
Contacted, the director general of services confirms this contract to deal with the migration crisis in the Alpes-Maritimes.
In January 2022, a similar agreement had already been signed with the association Pasteur avenir jeunesse (Paje).
At the Campanile, teams of educators employed by the Pierre-Valdo association take turns at all times.
Displayed on the door of this room "29", schedules and other documents useful to the organization.
Activities are offered to migrants, such as football games or trips to the seaside.
"You mustn't think it's a summer camp!"
, shades a supervisor.
Some of these young people have been staying in this hotel for three weeks while waiting for their minority to be verified by the child protection services - a departmental competence.
In theory, this procedure should not exceed 72 hours.
Proof of the Department's inability to manage the massive influx of migrants crossing the Franco-Italian border.
“Last week, I went to pick up a group of young people who had spent six days in the premises of
the Auvare barracks in Nice
, assures another educator.
They were 21 in 5 square meters with deplorable hygienic conditions...”
Since January, nearly 1,202 suspected minors without papers have been taken care of.
At the beginning, I was still told that it was to receive 40 Ukrainians!
Since then, neither the Department nor the prefecture have contacted me.
The Campanile case would not be isolated.
Other establishments currently host unaccompanied minors supervised by the association, according to one of its members.
In Châteauneuf-Grasse, the mayor regrets a lack of transparency and consultation.
“At first, I was told that it was to receive 40 Ukrainians!
Since then, neither the Department nor the prefecture have contacted me”,
regrets Emmanuel Delmotte
.
According to him, the residents complain of nuisance.
"I receive emails every day and I was even asked to install barriers around the hotel
," he continues.
Tired of facing the questions of its constituents without being able to provide satisfactory answers,
"I plan to close the hotel for security reasons
," he says.
The association had assured him that the twenty rooms would be released on April 15.
Their occupation could finally last until September.
Read alsoDoes an unaccompanied minor cost “50,000 euros” per year to the French?
For several years, David Nakache, president of the association Tous Citoyens, has been asking for the establishment of new permanent structures to avoid the emergency care of unaccompanied minors in private establishments.
“It's cracking on all sides because there are more arrivals than before.
The county council has given up its social vocation
, he insists.
All of this should be transparent but the Department refuses to communicate and inform the mayors.
The “CD06”, he calls on the State to obtain help in the face of a situation that he says he can no longer manage.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister sketched out a response by announcing the reinforcement of 150 police and gendarmes and the creation of a "border force".
“A basic migratory wave is progressing day by day.
For a long time, I have been asking the State to assume its responsibility in the face of this rise in power”
, reacted by press release Charles-Ange Ginésy, the president of the Department, following the announcements of Elisabeth Borne.
In the meantime, for lack of sufficient structures, the county council relies on the associative action it finances to take care of unaccompanied minors.
