The German government on
Wednesday rejected a proposal by the conservative Christian
Social Union (CSU) party of Bavaria to set up border checks to
prevent illegal migrant entries from Italy.
Such a measure would only be "a last resort" under strict
conditions, an interior ministry spokesperson said.
For that to happen, EU interior ministers would have to
review European refugee policy.
The issue at hand is combating human trafficking, and not
asylum seekers per se, the ministry added.
This means better cooperation with countries of origin and
transit countries, such as Italy.
Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer on Monday told German
daily Bild that Germany should "seriously think about" stopping
Italy's alleged breaches of the Schengen accords by new border
checks on migrants.
The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela
Merkel's CDU.
Bavaria last month accused Italy of blatantly waiving EU
migrant rules.
Rome is deliberately ignoring standard refugee procedures
such as finger-printing in order to let them seek asylum in
other countries, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann said
on August 22.
Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano should not
complain about high refugee arrivals to Italy while at the
same time allegedly not respecting EU norms on them, Herrmann
said.
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