Riga (Latvia), No country can deal with the phenomenon of migration single-handed, Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella said on Tuesday, urging greater European solidarity on the influx of migrants arriving across the Mediterranean.
“We discussed the topic of migration, agreeing on the fact that we face a phenomenon of such major proportions that no single country can tackle it alone,” Mattarella said after meeting with Latvia’s President Raimonds Vejonis during a visit to the Baltic state.
“In these times we have faced all the major challenges – migration, security, the environment, growth, financial crisis. They require much more intense, stronger solidarity,” Mattarella said.
Over 700,000 boat migrants have landed in Italy since 2014.
Faced with the populist government’s threat to veto the conclusions of the European Council summit last week unless Italy got more help from other EU states, EU leaders controversially agreed to set up secure centres for migrants in the bloc, to buttress its borders, create ‘disembarkation platforms’ outside the bloc and to redistribute refugees among member states.
