Brussels, 08/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Nearly 6,000 people were rescued in the Mediterranean over the course of the weekend, the Italian coastguard has announced. The international fleet came to the aid of some 5,900 migrants, with UK vessels Bulwark picking up more than 1,000 refugees.
According to the Italian authorities, British, Swedish, Spanish and Italian ships went to the rescue of 15 vessels on Sunday and saved 2,400 people in total, Reuters reports. On Saturday 6 June, 3,500 migrants were picked up off the coast of Libya.
In the first five months of this year, 46,500 migrants have arrived by sea in Italy, a 12% increase on the same period last year, according to UNHCR figures. The Italian government estimates that a total of 200,000 will arrive this year, compared with 170,000 in 2014.
Three major regions of northern Italy warned on Sunday that they would refuse to take any further illegal migrants, AFP reports. The president of Lombardy, Roberto Maroni (Northern League) said that he would write to the mayors and prefects of his regions on Monday asking them to stop taking “illegal immigrants”. The redistribution of migrants is decided in Rome. Giovanni Toti, the president of Liguria, backed this position. “I have already stated that we will not take in any more migrants, and Lombardy, Veneto and Valle d'Aosta will do likewise”, he said.
Italy already hosts some 84,000 migrants. In Luxembourg on Tuesday 16 June, EU home affairs ministers are due to discuss the mechanism for distributing 40,000 asylum seekers among member states over the next two years, in an effort to bring some relief to Italy and Greece. Agreement on the Commission proposals does not appear close, however. (Solenn Paulic)