Europe at risk like never before -Padoan (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, May 3 - Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Tuesday that the European Union was facing unprecedented challenges. "Europe is experiencing an exceptional situation in which it is at risk perhaps like never before since it was created" he said, citing the migrant crisis and the possibility Britain may exit the union. Padoan added that the threat of the Schengen border-free system collapsing was a bigger danger than that posed by the eurozone crisis. "The Schengen treaty is in doubt with the refugee emergency and that is more dangerous than the euro crisis of a few years ago," Padoan told a conference on the future of the EU at Rome's La Sapienza University.