President Sergio Mattarella on
Monday said the European Union needed to show "firmness" in its
approach to the Mediterranean asylum-seeker crisis.
"I am certain that the same method of negotiation firmness
(used to solve the bank problems) will enable us to overcome the
numerous obstacles that are still positioned between
long-sighted, effective management of perhaps the most important
issue the European Union faces," Mattarella said at the
Conference of Ambassadors at the foreign ministry in Rome.
The head of state also called for "seriousness" in talks on
how to address the crisis.
"What we are asking for is a serious, responsible collegial
discussion, with space for soundbites verging on quips, which
are not fitting to dialogue and international discussion," he
said at the start of the three-day conference.
Rome has had appeals for other migrants rescued in the
southern Mediterranean to ports in other European countries as
well as Italy knocked back.
On Friday Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Italy would not take
lessons from its EU partners after the Visegard group leaders
sent him a letter calling on Rome to "close the ports" to asylum
sekers.
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