Six countries from the European Union have reached an agreement to take in the 141 migrants that are currently on board the Aquarius NGO rescue ship, as well as a further 100 that have also been picked up in the Mediterranean.

Iran press/Europe: Under the deal, Spain will take in a total of 60 people, while France will take in 60, Portugal 30, Germany 50 and Luxembourg five, Spanish sources announced.

The Aquarius is currently in international waters, 32 miles from the coast of Italy and 32 miles from Malta. After initially rejecting the ship, Malta announced that it had agreed to allow “the ship to enter, despite having no legal obligation to do so,” and provide a logistical base for the distribution of the migrants. While it called the decision an “exercise in shared responsibility,” the country has also negotiated to have 60 of 114 migrants rescued from its seas on Monday redistributed among the six European countries.

This joint solution was being sought by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose Socialist Party (PSOE) government agreed to take in more than 600 migrants who were on board the Aquarius in June, a decision that drew praise among certain sectors at home, but criticism from countries such as Italy,who said the move was encouraging out of control immigration.

 

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