ITALY FACED criticism in the European Union yesterday for raising alarm over a potential wave of refugees from Libya, with several governments saying Rome’s calls for help in dealing with migrants were exaggerated.
Western governments are weighing contingency plans if escalating violence in Libya triggers massive outflows of people. International experts say however that out of at least 30,000 people, mainly Tunisians and Egyptians, who have fled turmoil so far, none was headed for Europe.
Rome has warned that hundreds of thousands could flee to Italy, an important European port of entry for many migrants from north Africa, and has asked its European partners for funds and help.
Many EU governments, though, mainly from northern Europe, said during a meeting in Brussels it was too early to predict how many could seek shelter in Europe and rebuffed Italy’s requests.
“We shouldn’t paint the devil on the wall until he appears,” Hungary’s interior minister Sandor Pinter told reporters after the meeting. Hungary holds the EU presidency until the end of June and oversees many policy debates.
Austrian interior minister Maria Fekter said Vienna was ready to help if turmoil led to a humanitarian disaster, but this was not the case yet.
“We are against reallocating asylum seekers from Italy to the rest of Europe,” she said before meeting.
The rift underscores divisions in Europe on how to tackle immigration and share responsibility for housing refugees, asylum seekers and irregular immigrants.
Under EU rules, asylum seekers can only apply for assistance in the country through which they first enter the EU. In a humanitarian disaster outside EU borders, EU governments are not obliged to take in refugees who arrive in another state.