NGO vessel denied access to several European ports including Italy, has remained at sea for the past 13 days

Saturday 17 August - A French Interior Ministry source has claimed France is negotiating a deal to help land 151 migrants aboard a vessel belonging to Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, reports the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

The government say they have been in contact with the European Commission to look for a resolution to the current situation which has seen the NGO vessel denied access to several European ports including Italy and remain at sea for the past 13 days.

A source in the Interior Ministry told the Spanish newspaper: 'Just like every other time this kind of situation has come up, France is taking the initiative and actively contributing to the search for a solution at the European scale to disembark and take in the rescued individuals.'

The confirmation of negotiations comes after the NGO petitioned several countries, including France and Germany, to request the European Commission distribute migrants across the political bloc in the hope that it may allow them to dock in Italy or another country that had previously rejected them.

They appear to be uninterested in finding a safe African port.

Sources within the Spanish government have also claimed that the Spanish are involved in a potential deal but have so far not provided much in the way of details on what their participation, if any, would be in relocating the migrants onboard the Spanish-based NGO vessel.

Editor's comment - 'They appear to be uninterested in finding a safe African port' - says it all, really. These are not refugees, they are economic migrants who regard Europe as one great big free cash machine. As long as they receive encouragement from the EU and the NGO vessels, they will keep coming, and there are hundreds of millions of them.