Europe is "elegantly washing its
hands" of a migrant "drama which will be ever more unbearable by
Italy" by being unable to find alternative solutions to "armed
intervention" or "open arms" policies, the secretary-general of
the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI), Msgr Nunzio Galantino,
told Vatican Radio Friday.
Italy is bearing the brunt of a migrant emergency in the
Mediterranean and is asking the EU to more fairly share the
burden of rescuing and receiving migrants.
Italy's year-long Mare Nostrum mission, which ended last
November, scoured the Med for migrants while the EU's
replacement Triton mission patrols borders and only goes after
struggling boats when alerts go out.
Some 170,000 migrants reached Italy last year while about
23,000 have come so far this year compared to about 21,000 in
the same period last year, a rise of about 10%.
About half a million migrants are reportedly poised to set
off from the lawless shores of Libya.
Migrant centres in Italy have overflowed and migrants and
asylum seekers are being housed in hotels, sparkign resistance
from regional governments and the outspoken criticism of
political parties like the anti-immigrant Northern League, which
is rising in the polls.
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