Italy and France have boosted cooperation at their border, interior minister Luciana Lamorgese announced on Friday after talks in Rome with her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin.
"Italy and France have strengthened border patrols also via the creation of joint patrols initially for six months on which our police have already been working for some time, Lamorgese said.
"We aim to make these patrols operational as soon as possible," Lamorgese added in remarks streamed from the interior ministry website.
Lamorgese last week rejected opposition calls to resign over the case of Tunisian jihadist Brahim Aoussaoui, who entered France after arriving in Italy and brutally slaughtered three people in Nice's cathedral.
Aoussaoui landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa on 20 September and was quarantined in the southern Puglia region before being released by Italian authorities despite having received a deportation order dated 9 October.
Italy’s overburdened repatriation centres had no place for Aoussaoui, despite agreements with Tunisia governing the return of citizens who don’t qualify for asylum in Italy, Lamorgese said.
