Italian ships will bring the 629 migrants who have been on the Aquarius ship of Sos Mediterranée for days to Valencia. The announcement was made this morning with a tweet from the same non-governmental organization: "According to the plan of the MRCC of Rome (the rescue coordination center, ed), the shipwrecked on board will be transferred to Italian ships and taken to Valencia".
Until yesterday, the Spanish port was the only alternative, because the government in Madrid had been the only one to show solidarity with the migrants, denied instead by Italy and Malta.
The spokesman of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Daniel Holtgen applauds: “We welcome the decision of Spain to help the Aquarius ship and provide humanitarian support. But we continue to appeal to the solidarity of the member states without which no sustainable solution is possible".
This morning, however, an opening also arrived from France, which gave its assent to let Aquarius dock in Corsica.
Meanwhile, another 923 migrants are arriving on an Italian military ship towards our country. In the next few hours the boat will dock in Catania, since it is a vessel of the Navy which cannot be denied docking.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on Facebook that “Italy's requests are beginning to be heard. We had asked for a more supportive Europe and for our country not to be left alone in the management of migratory flows. Spain's initiative goes precisely in this direction. It is an important turning point: from today Italy is no longer alone. Now we continue to work to really change the Dublin Regulation”. The immigration emergency, he says, “will be the first point I will address in my meeting with President Macron on Friday and with Chancellor Angela Merkel next Monday. We want to bring about a fairer and more equitable reform of the Dublin Regulation for all".
