Italian prime minister threatens to 'hurt Europe' if other countries do not take in more migrants - and could issue temporary visas allowing them to travel through Europe to ...
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Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has threatened to 'hurt Europe' if it continues to turns a blind eye to the migrant crisis.
Italy has long complained its European partners are shirking their responsibilities and leaving it to handle the migrant emergency without effective support.
The centre-left leader has now said his country will implement a 'Plan B' to resolve the ever-growing problem.
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Matteo Renzi has clashed with fellow EU member states on his approach to dealing with the African migrants
Mr Renzi, pictured with Francois Hollande and David Cameron, has said that 'Europe's answers so far have not been good enough' - he may issue temporary visas to African migrants allowing them to travel through the EU
He did not specif y what options he was considering, but it has been suggested Rome could start issuing newly arrived migrants with temporary visas giving them the right to travel throughout Europe's border-free Schengen zone.
Such a move would be politically explosive as it would undermine the Dublin accords under which EU governments agreed asylum requests should be processed by the member state where the applicant first arrived.
Italy is also considering preventing British, French, German and other naval ships from landing migrants rescued in the Mediterranean at its ports, effectively forcing those countries to accept responsibility for them.
It comes as Mr Renzi said a recent plan to relocate 24,000 immigrants to other European countries was 'not enough'.
Austria and Switzerland have followed France in tightening controls and returning migrants, putting even greater pressure on Italy.
Mr Renzi said: 'Let me be clear, Europe's answers so far have not been good enough.'
He will raise the issue with his British and French counterparts when they travel to Milan this week, as well as speaking to European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Refugees outside the train station in the Italian capital which has led to protests from local businesses
Refugees congregate together outside Rome's Tiburtina station as the country struggles to bring the immigration crisis under control
Migrants gather at the Franco-Italian border near Menton, southeastern France in the hopes of being allowed to cross - it was led to increased tensions between Italy and other European member states
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano added: 'I cannot reveal our Plan B, but if Europe is not supportive, it will find itself dealing with a different Italy. We will not accept a selfish Europe.'
Mr Alfano said he would ask the EU at a meeting of interior ministers tomorrow for 'fair distribution of migrants, camps in Libya and a serious policy on repatriation' of economic migrants.
He also said the pictures of groups of migrants huddled together and wrapped in emergency blankets in Ventimiglia, a town on the border with France, was a 'punch in the face for Europe'.
Italian police moved in yesterday to disperse around 200 migrants who were staging a sit-in at a border crossing after French police refused to let them enter the country.
Some of the men, women and children from Somalia, Eritrea, the Ivory Coast and Sudan said they had initially made it across the border into France by train, but been arrested and escorted back across the frontier by police.
Following this, the anti-establishment Five Star movement criticised the French stand, saying 'Paris is treating migrants like parcels to return to sender. It's shameful.'
Austrian police also announced yesterday they would be returning 24 African migrants to Italy who were arrested while trying to get to Germany by train.
In Switzerland, 240 migrants were expelled back to Italy over the weekend.
A group of around 50 huddle together on rocks by the sea under a bleak grey sky in Ventimigl ia, a town right on the border with France
Italian police moved in yesterday to disperse around 200 migrants who were staging a sit-in at a border crossing with France after French police refused to let them enter the country
The country is struggling to accommodate an endless wave of boat migrants, and a crackdown on security at the borders with France and Austria has exacerbated the situation, causing a bottleneck at Italy's train stations.
Hundreds of migrants have been sleeping rough in and around the train stations in Rome and Milan.
This has led to concerns about security and sanitation as the immigrants are packed closely together and there have been more than 100 cases of scabies in the last few days.
It has also led to protests from local businesses worried about the impact on tourism, clashes with police, an outcry from the right and fresh calls from Rome for EU help.
Authorities in Milan have rushed to convert a warehouse into a centre, while in Rome the civil protection agency has set up a temporary tent camp.
Italian police dispersed a protest by around 200 migrants at the Italy-France border outside Ventimiglia yesterday - the country has said its EU neighbours are shirking their responsibility
Officers in riot gear with shields pushed the migrants back towards the town, three miles from the border on the Italian side - Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described it as being a 'punch in the face for Europe'
The immigration crisis has also fuelled tensions in Italy with growing support for right-wing politicians who oppose immigration.
Yesterday, the president of Lombardy, Roberto Maroni, said his region would not take in any more migrants. He also threatened to cut funding for local authorities who continued to accept migrants.
His stance was supported by Luca Zaia, the president of Veneto and a member of the North ern League.
He said the sight of African migrants would have a 'devastating effect' on the country's tourism industry.
He was also backed by Giovanni Toti, the newly-elected president of the Liguria region and a member of Forza Italia.
The three northern regions are among the most affluent in Italy, and have so far accommodated around 15 per cent of the latest migrant influx.
Sicily, a relatively poor southern region with high unemployment, has accommodated 22 per cent.
Italy's government predicts a total of 200,000 migrants will arrive on its shores this year, up from 170,000 in 2014.
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