A new life beckons for first 19 asylum-seekers flown out under relocation plan

A group of Eritrean asylum seekers was flown from Italy to Sweden on Friday, the first step in a relocation plan aimed at helping countries at the forefront of the migrant crisis. The 19 men and women, who made a perilous journey across the desert and the sea to seek shelter in Europe, lined up on the runway of Rome’s Ciampino airport wearing light jackets, smiling and taking selfies before boarding a state plane. European migration commissioner Dmitris Avramopoulos and Italian interior minister Angelino Alfano escorted them to the aircraft taking them to an airport near the Arctic Circle where temperatures dipped below freezing overnight. Another 100 asylum seekers will be sent to countries including Germany and Holland in coming weeks

Today is a day of victory for Europe

Italian interior minister Angelino Alfano

As Sweden prepared to receive them, prime minister Stefan Lofven said the influx of migrants is “the greatest humanitarian effort in Swedish history.” In the past week, the country has counted 8,899 asylum-seekers, including 1,609 just on Thursday. Elsewhere, Greece was facing up to a fresh rush of migrants after the International Organization for Migration said it had seen a sharp increase in arrivals on Greece’s eastern islands over the past week, with about 7,000 people arriving each day. Greece’s coast guard said it rescued 542 people in 12 search and rescue incidents off the coasts of the eastern Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Agathonissi and Farmakonissi, from Thursday morning to Friday morning. In one incident, a one-year-old boy died after the inflatable dinghy he was on partially sank off the coast of Lesbos.

While the humanitarian aspects are very important, especially with the coming winter … we would be making a big political mistake if we neglect the criminal and national security aspects of this migration wave.

Hungary president Janos Ader

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