Italy plots ‘nuclear option’ to migrant crisis by giving EU visas to 200,000 incomers and sending them north as the country struggles with ‘human warehouse’
European Council Directive 2001/55 was developed after the Balkans conflict to give temporary European entry permits to a large number of displaced people
Now some Italian officials say that they may use it to issue visas to migrants
The country is struggling to absorb the numbers seeking refuge on its shores
More than 86,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Italy this year
By LIZ DUNPHY
DailyMail.com
15 July 2017
Italian government officials have threatened to issue temporary EU visas to thousands of migrants in an effort to deal with Italy’s escalating migrant and refugee crisis that would allow new arrivals to travel north.
In what has been described as a ‘nuclear option,’ Italian government officials have threatened to allow 200,000 migrants who enter the country to travel across Europe by using a Brussels directive, The Times reports.
Italy has previously called on its EU neighbours to help with the escalating humanitarian crisis but it has been disappointed by their lack of action.
Due to its geographic location, Italy has been one of the first entry points for people fleeing from the south to reach Europe.
More than 86,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Italy already this year.
Italy has been struggling to cope with a huge increase in people fleeing north Africa.
Hundreds of asylum seekers are now packed into overcrowded centres in small villages throughout the country which have been dubbed ‘human warehouses’ by locals.
Mattia Toaldo, a senior analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told The Times: ‘If migrants continue to arrive and Italy decides to give them papers to cross borders and leave Italy it would be a nuclear option.
‘Italians have lost any hope of getting help from the EU and may say, ‘If you won’t make it a common challenge, we will.’
The Rest…HERE
