Reuters, Rome :
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called for a change to European asylum rules on Sunday as neighboring states tightened border controls, turning back African migrants and leaving hundreds stranded at the frontier in northern Italy.
In an interview with Milan’s Corriere della Sera daily, Renzi said that after toppling Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the international community bore responsibility for the chaos in Libya that has opened the way for hundreds of thousands of migrants to cross by boat to southern Italy.
He called for a change to the so-called Dublin regulations, which assign most asylum seekers to the EU country they first enter and said he would discuss the issue with French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron when they visit Italy this week.
“If the European Council chooses solidarity, then good. If it doesn’t, we have a Plan B ready but that would be a wound inflicted on Europe,” he said, without giving details. “We want to work to the last moment for a European response.”
Italy has long complained that its European partners are shirking their responsibilities and leaving southern Mediterranean countries like Italy and Greece to handle the migrant emergency without effective support.
Under the Schengen treaty, free cross-border movement is normally allowed within most of the European Union but France and Austria have been stepped up controls on migrants from Italy, turning back hundreds and leaving growing numbers camped out in railway stations in Rome and Milan.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called for a change to European asylum rules on Sunday as neighboring states tightened border controls, turning back African migrants and leaving hundreds stranded at the frontier in northern Italy.
In an interview with Milan’s Corriere della Sera daily, Renzi said that after toppling Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the international community bore responsibility for the chaos in Libya that has opened the way for hundreds of thousands of migrants to cross by boat to southern Italy.
He called for a change to the so-called Dublin regulations, which assign most asylum seekers to the EU country they first enter and said he would discuss the issue with French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron when they visit Italy this week.
“If the European Council chooses solidarity, then good. If it doesn’t, we have a Plan B ready but that would be a wound inflicted on Europe,” he said, without giving details. “We want to work to the last moment for a European response.”
Italy has long complained that its European partners are shirking their responsibilities and leaving southern Mediterranean countries like Italy and Greece to handle the migrant emergency without effective support.
Under the Schengen treaty, free cross-border movement is normally allowed within most of the European Union but France and Austria have been stepped up controls on migrants from Italy, turning back hundreds and leaving growing numbers camped out in railway stations in Rome and Milan.
