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Geneva / Warsaw (dpa) – For the first time, most refugees and migrants took the route of the western Mediterranean via Spain upon entering the EU.
The number of immigrants on the central Mediterranean route previously favored towards Italy on the other hand, has declined considerably recently, as announced by the European Border Agency Frontex at Warsaw.
In mid-July, about 18,000 men, women and children arrived in Spain, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In addition, nearly 3,000 migrants have tried to enter the northern regions of Spain, Melilla and Ceuta, said the IOM in Geneva. Especially in recent weeks, the number of refugees has gone from 50 to almost 220 per day. Almost three times as many migrants arrived on the western Mediterranean route compared to the same period of the previous year.
Most of them come from Morocco, Guinea and Mali. Frontex boss Fabrice Leggeri warned for months that the path through Spain could become the new main road for refugees.
Development coincides with the arrival of the populist government in Rome in June. She runs a tough anti-migration course. More recently, the Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the right aid organization Lega refused entry into a port, several ships with migrants rescued on board were stranded during days. According to Salvini, the migration crisis can only be resolved if all the survivors of the distress are sent back to Libya. The country of civil war should be recognized as a refuge, he said last.
In Italy, about 80 percent fewer refugees arrived in the first seven months of 2017, IOM said. More specifically, the authorities counted 17,800 arrivals. The drastic decline is also due to the fact that the Libyans, since last year, with the help of Italy, intercept more migrants in national waters and bring them back to the country.
The Spanish aid organization Proactiva Open Arms accuses the Libyan Coast Guard of failing to provide assistance. In the open sea, they had discovered a single survivor hanging on the remains of a rubber dinghy. In addition, two bodies were found. The NGO assumes that the Libyans left the three after a rescue in the sea. A spokesman for the Libyan Coast Guard said that 158 people had been saved and no one had been left behind. Salvini accused the rescuers of lying and harassing and said: "Reducing departures and arrivals means fewer deaths. (…) I'm staying hard."
In Greece, according to IOM figures, the number of migrants is increasing again and now stands at 14,700. In total, according to reports, as of mid-July, nearly 51,000 people had come to Europe via the Mediterranean
During the first half of 2018, Frontex accounted for just under half of the illegal border crossings in the EU compared to the same period of the previous year, or about 60,430 – "mainly because of reduced migratory pressure on the central Mediterranean route ".
Meanwhile, the exact distribution of about 450 rescued boat refugees is still not clear. Italy had initially left the migrants, who had brought it out of a wooden boat from Libya to the shores of the Italian islands, after countries like Italy and Italy. Germany, France and Spain had promised to welcome each 50 refugees. Other EU countries, such as Austria and the Czech Republic, see no reason to help.
Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz informed his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte in a letter to the Austrian APA news agency that since 2015, the Alpine Republic is one of the strongest contributors to migration policy of the EU in terms of population. "Austria will therefore not participate in additional redistribution".
IOM data on migration routes
Frontex Communication (English)
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