“In spite of the fact that we are inundated every day by grim news stories, one more tragic than the other, there are images to which we cannot become accustomed, such as that of the 27 African clandestine immigrants clinging to a fishing net in the midst of a sea of indifference”. So begins the editorial in the last number of the Belgian Catholic weekly “Dimanche”, signed by Pascal Andre. “It is difficult – writes Andre – to remain indifferent when one learns that these 27 candidates for exile remained clinging to their lifeline for three days, during which time no one came to their rescue. Neither Libya, nor Malta wished to assume responsibility for accepting them on their territory, arguing that the shipwreck had occurred outside their zones of search and rescue. Only Italian and Spanish vessels brought succour to the shipwrecked. It’s a scandal that has caused embarrassment to the European Commission, which, through a spokesman, has admitted that European cooperation still does not function well”. On 12 June, concludes Andre, “European Ministers of the Interior will discuss the question of the acceptance of shipwrecked migrants in Luxembourg”.
