EU must be firm on migrants-Mattarella

(ANSA) - Rome, July 24 - 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.