The German rescue ship Lifeline, with about 230 migrants rescued from distress, can go into a Maltese port. This was announced by Malta’s Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat. “I think that ship will reach our shores tonight,” he said. Muscat announced that initially ” refugees would be distributed”, n ship was confiscated. He pointed out that, in addition to his country, seven or EU states had declared ir willingness to take part of lifeline refugees. He called Italy, Luxembourg, Nerlands, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and France.
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The Dresden aid organization Mission Lifeline had previously appealed to all EU countries to quickly get ship into a port. “This is a very stressful situation and we are shaken by heartedness of politics,” mission-Lifeline spokesman Axel Steier had said. The situation on board is getting worse, several refugees are in a very bad condition. “This is slowly a matter of life and death.”
Lifeline had rescued migrants on Thursday off Libyan coast and has waited since n for allocation of a safe haven. Malta had announced that it would only allow ship to run if refugees were split up on board among several EU states. Italy and France had already agreed to this.
Seehofer Sets conditions
As Germany did not initially express itself, federal government was criticized. Mission Lifeline accused Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) of denying admission for reasons of political power. If situation escalates, Seehofer’s responsibility, Steier had said.
Seehofer finally expressed himself on Wednesday morning and set conditions for a possible admission. A prerequisite is that ship be fixed, he said on sidelines of a meeting of Internal Affairs Committee of Bundestag. “We need to prevent it from becoming a precedent.” He also said this to Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD), who will now take care of details. There should be no “shuttle” between Libya and sourn Europe, said Seehofer. According to members of internal committee, Seehofer also said in non-public committee meeting that German crew had to be held accountable.
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Because of this announcement, in a current hour of left-wing Parliamentarian Michael Brand, which was scheduled by left Bundestag group in Bundestag, turned to seehofer with clear words. That is cynical: “are distress rescue and human rescue now about criminal?” asked Brandt, who was on lifeline for a few hours last week. “Are you really ready, Mr Seehofer, to sacrifice people for a good election result in Bavaria?” The federal government makes itself a stooge of right-wing populists and human haters, Brandt said, pointing towards AfD group. He called on Merkel to dismiss Seehofer.
In meantime, government spokesman Steffen Sally referred to ongoing talks on how to deal with lifeline. The federal Government considers situation with concern. Sally admitted that migrants on lifeline are “in a difficult situation”. All those involved were called upon to contribute to humanitarian solutions. In addition to state of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, countries of Berlin and Brandenburg have also agreed to accept a certain number of refugees.
