The European Union and Italy need to work together to manage the influx of migrants to the bloc, parliament speaker Roberto Fico said on Monday, calling such cooperation "a civil operation".
"The only possible way forward is to work together with EU and hold meetings and assemblies to try to and distribute the migrants (arriving in Italy and other southern European countries)," Fico said.
"It seems to me to be a civil operation," Fico added.
Fico said he would welcome a summit on the topic of the relocation of migrants.
"Italy cannot be left on its own," he said.
Fico, who is from the grassroots 5-Star Movement, made the remarks during a visit to Naples.
Despite a sharp decline in arrivals over the past year while former interior minister Matteo Salvini was in office, more than 700,000 migrants have reached Italy since 2014.
