Torra offers to take in 600 refugees on stranded NGO ship

The Catalan president Quim Torra offered on Monday evening to host around 600 refugees who are on the NGO rescue ship Aquarius, left stranded at sea after being rejected from docking at Italian and Maltese ports. The Spanish government had offered earlier in the day the port of Valencia for the ship to dock.

Unsafe passage

However, the NGO Doctors Without Borders later said that the ship’s passage to Spain is “unsafe,” leaving it uncertain whether it will come after all.

The Italian Home Affairs Minister, far-right Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, said the country would not take any more migrants and urged Malta to allow the 'Aquarius' to dock in the island. After Malta refused and the EU and the UN asked both European countries to end the stand-off, the new Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, stepped in and offered the Valencian port instead.   

"Spain will take in the Aquarius for humanitarian reasons," said the Spanish government in a press release. "We welcome the decision of the Spanish government. This is real solidarity put in practice towards both theses desperate and vulnerable people and towards fellow EU member states," said the EU Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Some hours later, writing on Twitter, the Catalan president announced his offer. "We reiterate the offer made in March 2016 by president Carles Puigdemont. We are prepared to receive 1,800 refugees,” he wrote, including in this amount the 600 refugees in the 'Aquarius' ship.