European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday "Italy is doing the impossible"
in tackling the asylum seeker crisis.
"We must not abandon Italy and Greece just because they're in
the wrong place, albeit a sunny one," he said. "Europe needs to
show Italy its solidarity".
Italy and Greece are the first landfall for people fleeing
across the Mediterranean from wars and persecution in Africa and
the Middle East, especially the country of Syria where a civil
war has been raging for six years.
Juncker went on to say that "the measures Europe has decided
on must be applied".
"Syria practically borders on the EU and (its refugees) must
be taken in, independently of their religious faith," he said.
The European Commission chief also said Britain must keep in
mind that it can't be "a full-time taker and a part-time giver"
in its relationship with the EU after the Brexit.
Juncker was speaking at Bolzano Free University conference on
the 70th anniversary of the autonomy of Italy's northern Alto
Adige province bordering on Austria and Switzerland.
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