Italy can't be left to cope with
migrants arriving from North Africa on its own, the head of the
European People's Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, told Premier
Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday.
Weber was speaking amid a big spat between Italy and France on a
migrant boat that was refused entry into Italian ports and ended
up in France, spurring Paris to cancel the relocation of 3,500
migrants from Italy and urge other EU members to do the same.
Both countries have blamed the other for the row.
"Italy and France must find a common agreement on the great
challenges ahead of us, and everyone must respond to the
challenge of migration," Weber told a press conference after
meeting Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy (FdI) part is not in the
EPP but is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists
group along with Spain's Vox, Poland's Law and Justice party and
the Sweden Democrats.
"What we need is a European solution, we do not need battles
between Italy and France, or other countries," Weber went on.
"This solution must combine two aspects: strict and strong
border controls, as we did at the border between Turkey and
Greece; the second is solidarity, Italy cannot be left alone, we
must show solidarity at the European level".
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