Spain takes in migrant boat after Italy, Malta reject entry
ROME: Spain stepped up on Monday and offered to take in a rescue ship carrying more than 600 migrants after Italy and Malta refused. The diplomatic standoff left the migrants stranded in the Mediterranean Sea and revealed the brass-knuckled negotiating tactics of Italy’s new anti-immigrant government.
Italy and Malta quickly thanked Spain’s new Socialist prime minister for the offer to receive aid group SOS Mediterranee’s ship at the port of Valencia. But it wasn’t certain if the voyage was feasible given the distance and how long the rescue vessel had been at sea.
The Aquarius on Monday was more than 1,400 km from Valencia and said it had received no instructions yet to head to Spain.
The UN refugee agency, the European Union, Germany and humanitarian groups had all demanded that the Mediterranean countries put their domestic politics aside and urgently consider the plight of the 629 migrants, among them more than 100 children, pregnant women and people suffering from hypothermia.
Despite the diplomatic pres- sure, Italy and Malta held firm. Rome has long demanded that the EU change its migration policy and make good on promises to accept more refugees, saying that Italy has been left alone to coordinate rescues and accept tens of thousands of migrants a year for asylum processing.