The Latest: Cooperation needed for migration to Europe

BARCELONA, Spain – The Latest on migration into Europe (all times local):

11:55 a.m.

The Portuguese picked as the next leader of the U.N.'s migration agency predicts that the number of migrants heading from North Africa to Europe will grow and that European countries will increasingly refuse to let them in.

Antonio Vitorino says "I have no illusions. I know that in coming years the flow of migrants will increase and (destination) countries will close in on themselves."

Vitorino told Portuguese television channel SIC that cooperation between the migrants' countries of origin and European Union countries "is the only response" that will solve the issue of migration to Europe.

He says refugees seeking asylum must be guaranteed protection. He says the admittance of economic migrants depends on whether European labor markets can absorb them.

Vitorino was selected last week as the next director-general of the International Organization for Migration and takes office Oct. 1.

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10:45 a.m.

A rescue ship carrying 60 migrants has arrived in a Spanish port after being refused entry by Italy and Malta, the second time in a month that a humanitarian group has been forced to travel for days to unload people rescued in the central Mediterranean.

The Open Arms ship docked Wednesday in the northeastern port of Barcelona, where the group — including 5 women, a 9-year-old toddler and four teenagers — will be going through health checks and identification procedures.

The Spanish aid group Proactiva Open Arms said the migrants come from 14 countries and are in good health.

Doctors Without Borders says more than 500 people have died in the Mediterranean since the Aquarius, another rescue ship, was blocked from ports in Italy and Malta in June.