Italy calls for shared EU asylum policy

CERNOBBIO: Italian President Sergio Mattarella called on Saturday for shared asylum rules in the European Union, saying thousands of migrants approaching Europe should not be seen as enemies.
Speaking via video link to a conference in northern Italy, Mattarella said he was hopeful the bloc was finally on the road to common rules, after Germany and France joined Italy last week in urging the EU to take a more centrally coordinated approach.
“The choice is not between surrendering to an invasion and the supposed defence of ‘Fortress Europe’,” said Mattarella, whose role is largely ceremonial but takes on important powers in times of political instability.
Mattarella said the Dublin Regulation, which requires people seeking refuge in Europe to do so in the first country where they set foot, should be replaced with shared, updated rules in order to spread the burden more fairly. “The choice is between a Europe that decides its own destiny and a Europe that doesn’t know how to manage events,” he said.
Italy, whose southern island of Lampedusa is just 70 miles from Tunisia in North Africa from where many migrants come, has long called for more support in handling migrants seeking a better life in Europe.