Premier Giuseppe Conte said Monday that the European Union risks collapsing unless if finds a common position on migrants. "If we continue to stall without a shared path, we risk bringing down the European building," Conte told a news conference when speaking about a meeting in Rome with European Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos.
Avramopoulos also had talks with Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who has spearheaded the government's tough stance of refusing to allow NGO-run migrant rescue ships access to Italian ports.
"We presented what Italy has done up to now to Avramopoulos," Conte said.
"We are brining in a change of direction that is bearing fruit. "Italy had been left alone and now are are coping alone. "We didn't talk about a naval blockade with Avramopoulos but we discussed instruments to defend the borders, which is a very important issue for managing (migrant) flows. Otherwise you encourage the pull factor".
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