On Friday 4 January, France, Germany and the Netherlands were among the countries that offered to take in migrants rescued at sea by two NGO boats after being stranded for two weeks off Malta while Malta, Italy and Spain had not yet reported availability to take care of these people in their country.
France and Germany announced on Thursday 3 January, that they could take them in, but as part of a “collective effort” to distribute them among European states, the French government indicated to AFP on Thursday.
Held on the Sea-Watch-3 and Professor-Albrecht-Penck, two ships chartered by German NGOs, 49 migrants had been rescued off Libya before Christmas and at the end of December. On 3 January, the European Commission indicated that it was in contact with the Member States again to coordinate care efforts and quickly find a solution, as it had done this summer with the migrants rescued, mainly by the Aquarius.
Lowest level of arrivals in 5 years
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex also reported on 4 January in new statistics that the number of irregular arrivals in the EU had reached its lowest level in 5 years.
Arrivals in 2018 were down by a quarter compared to 2017 with 150,000 illegal entries, the lowest level since 2013, mainly due to a drastic drop in arrivals via the central Mediterranean to Italy, which fell by 80% compared to 2017 with 23,000 illegal entries recorded, the lowest since 2012. On the other hand, arrivals in Spain, via Morocco, doubled in 2018 with 57,000 entries. In the Eastern Mediterranean, arrivals also increased by a third in 2018 (56,000), notably via the land crossing between Greece and Turkey. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)