EU backs France over Italy in migrant row (VIDEO)

The European Union has backed France against Italy after Paris suspended a train service between the two countries in order to prevent trains carrying North African immigrants from crossing the border.

France blamed what it said were hundreds of activists planning demonstrations and threatening public order.

Train services were resumed Monday after Italy lodged a formal protest.

"At no time was there a … closing of the border between France and Italy," French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said, the Associated Press reported. "It was an "isolated problem," he said, involving "an undeclared demonstration."

At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said, "Apparently, they had the right to do this." She added, "It was a temporary, unique interruption due to public order. The traffic is flowing normally now."

France has been locked in an an ongoing row with Italy over North African migrants who have flooded Italy's shores, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.

Those arriving from Tunisia, mainly, as well as Libya since a wave of political and social unrest began in the region, have been viewed by many within the EU as economic migrants rather than refugees with a claim to asylum.

Italy accuses its fellow EU member states — especially France — of not pulling their weight in dealing with the influx. Many of the migrants are aiming to get to France, which is home to a large Tunisian population.

Italy on Saturday began arbitrarily issuing permits allowing thousands of the migrants to travel within the 25-country Schengen area, in a bid to redistribute them across the EU.

For those living legally in the 25 countries in the Schengen area — to which France and Italy belong — no travel documents are required.

French authorities on Sunday suspended trains arriving from the Italian border town of Ventimiglia after hundreds of Tunisian migrants and activists announced plans to board a "dignity train" to France, DPA reported.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told his ambassador in Paris to lodge a "strong protest" of the blocking of the trains, saying the migrants had the proper paperwork to enter France, the BBC reported. The ambassador called the move "illegitimate and in clear violation of general European principles."

Italy complained that the move violated EU rules on the free right to travel and said the presence of activists was not a "sufficient reason to justify sealing one of the most heavily used and sensitive European borders."

But Malmstroem said she had received a letter from France explaining the "temporary" disruption was the result of "public order reasons."

"It may be that this is not covered by the Schengen border code rules.," she said.

An EU spokesman, meanwhile, said France was not obliged to grant entry to people with the temporary residency permits given to some migrants by Italy.