Italy and Malta refused to provide them with shelter. But, Spain accepted them. After sailing in rough seas for a couple of weeks, around 630 migrants reached the Spanish port city of Valencia earlier this week. Three vessels – including the ‘Aquarius’ that rescued the migrants last weekend – docked in Valencia on June 17.
The migrants can spend the next 30 days in Spain, as the Spanish government has announced that it will soon decide whether they will be allowed to live in the European country on a permanent basis.
Italy and Malta refused to accommodate the refugees because of their internal political problem, prompting them to stay inside the vessels. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that his government decided to help the migrants on humanitarian ground. He also said that majority of the migrants were from Sudan, Nigeria, Algeria and other African nations. However, some of them are from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Aquarius

In a statement, the Spanish government said that the migrants burst into joy just before their vessels reached Valencia. Senior government officials were present at the port to welcome the ‘visitors’. Later, the officials collected information from the migrants, as a total of 2,320 people, including health workers, volunteers and translators, were there at the port to help them.
A senior Spanish official confirmed that there were seven pregnant ladies and 123 minors among the migrants. Karline Kleijer, head of an NGO operating the Aquarius, stressed: “During those horrible days in front of the Italian coast, people were extremely desperate.” She added: “People say they would rather die at sea than die in Libya, and a lot of them are just happy to have escaped.”
Meanwhile, tensions rise again in Europe as 37,034 refugees have arrived in the continent by sea so far this year. Majority of the Europeans believe that the continent needs to overhaul its asylum and immigration rules in order to get rid of the migrant crisis. Currently, Italy and Greece bear most of the burden because of their geographical position and the EU law. As per the EU law, asylum seekers will have to lodge their applications in the first EU country they enter.

Moreover, the anti-immigration sentiment is on the rise across Europe, with a huge number of migrants arriving in the continent every day. In Italy, the far-right League Party of Matteo Salvini has entered the government. In the past, the party campaigned on a pledge to send 500,000 irregular migrants home. Experts are of the opinion that the anti-immigration sentiment has helped rightwing, populist Freedom Party in Austria and the rightwing nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany perform well in recent elections. So, according to experts, it will not be possible for migrants to take shelter in Europe in the coming years.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boundlessoceanofpolitics/

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Google Plus:
https://plus.google.com/+KoushikDasboundless

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kousdas?s=09

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundless-ocean-of-politics

Contact us: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das