Berlin / Brussels / Rome (dpa) - The Federal Government is campaigning for a new state rescue mission in the Mediterranean after the example of the EU operation Sophia strong.
"We participated with conviction in this mission," said government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Friday in Berlin. However, there is currently no agreement on the distribution of rescued refugees in the EU. "We would welcome a new mandate if this agreement were reached."
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that he supported the proposal to reintroduce a state rescue of migrants on the Mediterranean organized by the European Union. "It is indispensable to save people from drowning," said the CSU politician in Dresden.
In the spring, the EU had stopped its launch of the Sophia navy off the Libyan coast in the spring, and is no longer able to rescue migrants from distress. The reason is that the Member States could not agree on a system for distributing the survivors. The aim of the action was originally to stem migration from Libya by combating smuggling. In practice, it was mainly used to rescue refugees from non-seaworthy or sinking boats.
In view of the recent hangs around the rescue ship "Open Arms", the EU Commission also insisted on binding solutions for refugees arriving in Europe. "The situation that people are stranded for days and weeks at sea, is untenable," said a spokeswoman for the Brussels authority. "Once again we are reminded that reliable and lasting solutions in the Mediterranean are urgently needed to ensure that people can disembark quickly and safely and receive the help they need."
Previously, six European countries had agreed to accept people from the blocked rescue vessel "Open Arms". According to Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday, it is France, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg. The people are partly for two weeks on the ship, which is located since Thursday in the immediate vicinity of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Because of "medical complications" went according to the Spanish aid organization Proactiva Open Arms more migrants from the ship. Three people urgently need special treatment, tweeted Proactiva on Friday. In addition, a relative could leave the ship. The other 134 migrants would have to go ashore as soon as possible, the sea rescue workers demanded.
Rescue ships have repeatedly been denied access to ports since the populist government in Rome came under the right wing of Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and the five-star movement.
South of Sicily and not far from Malta, the rescue vessel Ocean Viking was waiting in international waters with 356 rescued migrants for permission to enter a port. The aid organizations SOS Méditerranée and MSF had brought people to safety in several rescue operations.
Seibert stressed that the Federal Government would have preferred a continuation of the mission Sophia. The current ad-hoc procedure, which deals with rescuing refugees in the EU, is once again being negotiated on their distribution, with only a small number of states participating in it. "We believe that this should be organized better, in solidarity and with the participation of more states," said Seibert.
FDP General Secretary Linda Teuteberg told the dpa: "Sea rescue and migration policy should not be left to private NGOs, but must be regulated by democratically legitimized governments." At the same time she warned: "Anyone who believes that more ships off Libya means less distress, overlooks the associated bad incentive for the smugglers to send even more unseaworthy boats. »
In the Aegean, 258 migrants from Turkey crossed over to the Greek islands or mainland Greece on Friday. In front of the Greek port of Alexandroupolis, the Greek coast guard attacked 42 migrants. They were launched from the Turkish coast just a few miles away, the Coast Guard said. In front of the islands Samos and Chios discovered these 216 migrants.
