Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday said his government was "perplexed" by a European Commission proposal to create a 10,000-strong European border and coastguard to control immigration to the bloc.
"The proposed European coastguard - whose price ticket is 11.3 billion euros - has left this government perplexed at the constraints it would pose to national sovereignty and over the cost," Conte said.
"Italy has done a lot under its own steam so far," Conte added.
He was addressing the upper house Senate ahead of the European Council summit in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday.
Long-standing suggestions for a joint border force have gained urgency recently as differences on dealing with the ongoing influx of migrants arriving from Africa threatens to divide the European Union and stoke support for populist and nationalist politicians running on anti-immigration platforms.
European Commission president Jean Claude Junker has asked for 1.3 billion euros to be budgeted over the next two years to reinforce Europe's main border control agency - the understaffed and under-funded Frontex - by creating a standing force of 10,000 guards capable of responding to new emergencies.
Frontex has until now operated as a coordinating and information exchange mechanism between European security services and depends on voluntary contributions from individual governments.
An EU force composed of security units from different member states is already operating in the Sahel region of northern Africa.
