To avoid more tense standoffs with Rome in the future, Italy’s Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte called on the European Union to address the problem of migrant arrivals.
“If we don’t want another Diciotti case, we need a European response,” Conte told a press conference after meeting Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Rome on September 18. The meeting was held ahead of an EU summit in Salzburg.
As reported by the Italian news agency ANSA, Conte was referring to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s refusal to allow over 100 migrants saved at sea to disembark from Diciotti Coast Guard ship during a 10 standoff with the EU.
Conte called on the EU to make more investments in North Africa as part of cooperation to stop migrant flows.
He also reiterated his call for an overhaul of the Sophia naval mission in the Mediterranean, which Rome says currently puts too much of the burden of rescued migrants on Italy, reported ANSA.
