The head of Germany’s most populous state North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) visited the migrant camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday. After speaking to organizations working there, Armin Laschet called on the whole EU to "wake up" and said that he had listened to those in despair in the camps.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has announced that Italy must "forge an agreement on migratory cooperation with Tunisia" following the "Albanian model" from the late 1990s-early 2000s to control migration flows. The agreement with Albania enabled Italy to stop, seize and sink boats used for crossings.
The German frigate "Hamburg" set sail from Wilhelmshaven in the north of Germany on August 4. It is expected to reach its Mediterranean patrol zone off the Libyan coast by mid-August. The boat will be part of the EU operation Irini, designed to help enforce a UN weapons embargo on Libya in the hope of stabilizing the country.
The story of Pietro Bartolo has been made into a film. Bartolo worked as a doctor tending to migrants on the island of Lampedusa, and is now a member of the European Parliament. The movie is also intended to serve as an appeal to Europe and its sense of responsibility.
Thirteen migrants who tested positive for COVID-19 in Italy and were taken amidst protests by local residents to the town of Amantea, in Calabria, have been transferred to the Celio military hospital in Rome. Meanwhile, the Italian government is still looking for a new quarantine ship to use for migrants who disembark in Italy.
A group of residents in a small town in Calabria, southern Italy, have been protesting against the presence of a group of Pakistani migrants who tested positive for coronavirus. The migrants are being housed in apartments close to other residential buildings.
On Sunday, July 12, Italian newspapers reported that a total of 791 migrants disembarked on Lampedusa and Sicily over the previous 48 hours. The governor of the Sicilian region has called on the federal government to call a state of emergency with hotspots above capacity and a number of migrants testing positive for coronavirus.
The Greek opposition party Syriza has criticized the Greek government's policies on refugees and migrants. It accused the government of cutting spending and closing migrant facilities, and also attacked the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Germany takes over the rotating EU presidency, it will seek to tackle the long-stalled reform of EU asylum rules. The pressure to act is almost as great as the resistance to reform ideas.
Members of the S&D group in the EU parliament have called on the European Commision to create a permanent mechanism for migrant search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
KEERFA, a leading humanitarian and anti-racism organisation in Greece, has heavily criticized the Greek government's plan to proceed with the mass evictions of refugees staying in various parts of the country.
Italy's governing coalition parties have finally agreed to introducing changes to employment permits for migrants in the country. The four coalition parties hope the measures will benefit migrants as well as help sectors hit by the coronavirus.