The Italian and French interior ministers met yesterday amid an escalating row, after Italy granted temporary permits to some 20,000 Tunisian migrants and said this would allow them to travel to France.

France has said it does not want “a wave” of Tunisian migrants and will send those holding the Italian residence permits back unless they also have valid identity papers and sufficient funds to support themselves in France.

Migrants from the former French colony have been arriving in boatloads on the Italian island of Lampedusa, with many blaming a dire economic situation after the ouster of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, who held talks with his French counterpart Claude Gueant in Milan, accused the French of “hostility” and said France was violating the rules of the EU’s Schengen visa-free zone. The 25-country visa-free Schengen Zone covers most of the European Union, but does not include Britain or Ireland.

Responding to Italy’s move, Mr Gueant on Thursday said: “France has every right to send them back to Italy... That is what we will do.”

The standoff with the French dominated Italian newspaper headlines.

Immigration is set to top the agenda at a summit between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome on April 26.

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