Church representatives from across Europe have expressed disappointment at the failure of EU ministers agreeing any arrangement for search and rescue in the Mediterranean.
At the EU interior ministers’ meeting in Helsinki on 18 July, further discussions and proposals for a temporary arrangement were also postponed until September.
Dr Torsten Moritz, General Secretary of the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) – of which the United Reformed Church is a member – expressed dismay at the results.