On Wednesday 21 August, the European Commission welcomed the Italian court's decision, the day before, to have migrants from the Spanish NGO Open Arms ship land on the island of Lampedusa.
This decision allowed 80 migrants to leave a boat they had been occupying for more than two weeks after being rescued off the Libyan coast. It led to the temporary sequestration of the Spanish NGO vessel.
The Commission has now said it is "ready to coordinate efforts to relocate" these migrants between countries that have shown an interest in doing so, added Natasha Bertaud, spokesperson for the European institution. At this stage, France, Germany, Portugal and Luxembourg have indicated their intention to welcome some of these 80 people.
Initially, the NGO had rescued 147 people and 67 of them had already been rescued by the Italian rescue services, after some threw themselves into the sea in the hope of swimming to the island. Minors had also been previously taken into care and allowed to disembark.
New challenges. At the same time, a new headache concerns the Norwegian flagged vessel Ocean Viking, with 356 people on board who are also waiting for a solution from the Member States.
On Wednesday, the Commission said it would like the same spirit of solidarity to prevail in managing the distribution of migrants rescued by this ship managed by the NGO SOS Méditerranée and Doctors without Borders, which has been in the Sicilian Channel between Malta and Lampedusa for ten days.
After an informal ministerial meeting in Helsinki and another in Paris in July (see EUROPE 12301/4), EU Interior Ministers will meet in Malta in September to continue work on coordination in the reception of migrants and the modalities of their relocation between voluntary countries. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)