Premier Matteo Renzi on Wednesday accused the European Union of looking the other way as Italy struggles to cope with a mounting migrant crisis. "Europe explains everything about how to catch swordfish, but it turns its head when we go to rescue people in trouble," he said. There has been friction between Rome and Brussels this week after two migrant boat disasters south of Italy in which around 60 people are confirmed to have died and many more may have lost their lives.
Italy is having trouble managing after a massive increase this year in the already big flow of migrants who attempt the hazardous crossing from North Africa to Italy.
Earlier on Wednesday EU border-management agency Frontex Deputy Director Gil Arias Fernandez announced that 823% more migrants had arrived in Italy in the first four months of 2014 than in the same period last year. From January to April 2014, 25,650 migrants arrived in Sicily and 660 in the Puglia and Calabria regions, he said.
Some commentators have suggested that the Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) Rescue Operation that Italy launched after around 400 people were killed on two migrant-boat disasters in October may be encouraging people traffickers to increase illegal crossings.
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