Mont Blanc, an eternal quarrel between France and Italy?

 

Mont Blanc is definitely stirring up many passions at the end of 2020. It is first of all a decree for the protection of natural habitats (APHN), which entered into force at the beginning of October, which exacerbates tensions in the region. summit of the Alps. The local equation is now coupled with a border question. As reported The Guardian, Luigi Di Maio, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, has overshadowed some of the measures taken by France to protect the summit.

The leader of the 5-Star Movement has indeed sent a letter of complaint to the French government through the Italian Embassy in Paris. He expresses his “strong disappointment” on the subject of French “interference”. Courrier International, which relies on several Italian media, points out that this is the last chapter of a quarrel that began in fact 160 years ago and which focuses on the Hellbronner point of Mont-Blanc. Italy obtained sovereignty over this part of the massif with a treaty in 1860 but the subject is still the subject of an international dispute. In June 2019, the municipalities of Chamonix and Saint-Gervais decided to ban paragliding landing in the area. In August 2019, a deputy from Fratelli d’Italia took up the subject, showing his concerns about a possible monopolization by France of what is a major tourist destination. A theme on which Luigi Di Maio has just bounced back, believing that these “unilateral measures cannot and must not impact on Italian territory”. Matteo Salvini, the former Minister of the Interior, for his part called for “respect for borders”.

An old argument

The border area has fueled multiple tensions between the two countries in recent years. In 2015, Eric Fournier, the mayor of Chamonix, ordered alpine guides to close access to the Géant glacier on the Italian side, putting forward security measures. The summit of Mont Blanc itself is still the subject of a dispute between the two countries. He is considered French from Paris and Franco-Italian in Rome.

A few weeks ago, the mayor of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (Haute-Savoie), Jean-Marc Peillex, again denounced the behavior of “oddballs” observed recently on the famous mountain. In September, a Briton had made people talk about him by abandoning his rower at an altitude of 4,362 meters. As pointed out The echoes, Mont Blanc attracts each year between 15,000 and 20,000 people wishing to climb. It is in the face of the dangers caused by overcrowding that the authorities have chosen to take action.

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