Italy has threatened to issue large numbers of illegal migrants arriving by boat with temporary visas that allow them to travel anywhere in the EU's free movement zone, unless an agreement is reached to distribute the arrivals from Africa and the Middle East more equitably around Europe.
Talks are underway in Luxembourg today to discuss new proposals from the European Commission to redistribute the soaring numbers of asylum seekers arriving in Southern Europe across 25 EU countries. Out of the 28 EU members, Britain, Ireland and Denmark have rejected the plans.
Italy has called for help from other EU states to share the burden of dealing with the huge influx of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa, with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi threatening to "hurt Europe" if other countries do not share responsibility for housing them. Over 100,000 migrants have arrived so far this year in Europe, their motivations ranging from fleeing conflict in Africa and the Middle East to simply seeking greater prosperity in the EU.
The EU and its member states have struggled to come up with a coherent plan for dealing with the migrant crisis, with Southern European countries currently bearing the brunt.
The exact number of migrants which could be placed in each willing EU state has yet to be agreed but Germany, Austria and France have signalled support for plans to redistribute up to 60,000 of the migrants between the 25 states. The UK, Ireland and Denmark are refusing to host any of the migrants.
Taking migrants arriving from the Mediterranean would be politically difficult for the Conservative UK government, which has struggled to meet pledges to bring down net migration in the past, and in Denmark, where immigration has become a major election issue. British home secretary Theresa May argued that, instead of simply rehousing the migrants the "EU needs to go after the criminal gangs who are plying this terrible, callous trade in human lives".
Italy's threat to begin issuing temporary visas to newly arriving migrants would enable them to travel throughout the Schengen area, including all but six of the EU member states. However, Britain and Ireland opted out of the agreement while Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus are due to join imminently.
Of the estimated 103,000 migrants who have reached Europe after crossing the Mediterranean in 2015, around 54,000 have landed in Italy while 48,000 arrived in Greece. Over 1,800 migrants have already died attempting to cross the Mediterranean to get to Italy so far this year.
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