The mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, participated in a meeting in Berlin with German cities that have offered to receive migrants rescued at sea. Orlando said there are 120 German cities involved and that they want to continually increase that number.
The number of cities in Germany willing to welcome migrants who have been rescued at sea has doubled in the past seven months, going from about 60 to about 120.
The number emerged during a meeting on Monday in Berlin with Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando, whose administration has brokered a sort of alliance with German cities that have expressed their willingness to welcome migrants.
"We want to be united for rescue and we want to continually increase," Orlando said. "The important thing is the alliance between 120 cities," Orlando said.
Luise Amtsberg, an MP with the Green party in the German parliament, said work is being done to "coordinate willing cities on a European level."
'Focusing on human rights for security'
Orlando, meeting with representatives from the German cities of Potsdam and Dusseldorf, said a clear message needs to be sent that "the only way to maintain security is to respect human rights."
He said that is the reason Palermo has become "the safest city in Italy."
Potsdam and Dusseldorf are two of the cities that have agreed to welcome migrants rescued at sea.
'I hope the government changes the Salvini law'
Regarding the debate in Italy on the repeal of the so-called security decree, Orlando said he "hopes that the government changes the Salvini law."
"Traffickers and criminals take advantage of the current laws against migrants and the migrants are the victims of it," Orlando said. He said the concept must be clear that "migrants are human beings like any others."
"Actually, 'migrants' don't exist, they're not a sub-species of human beings, they are simply people, who don't have work, and have problems in the countries they come from," he said.
Orlando said he thinks Europe should have a common policy in terms of migrant reception.