Amid a major surge in boat migrant crossings to Italy from Tunisia, the European Union now accepts that greater solidarity over migration is needed, foreign minister Antonio Tajani has stated.
"There is a very tricky situation due to the increase in illegal immigration from Tunisia and Libya," Tajani told private TV channel Rete 4's Forehand-Backhand chat show late on Thursday.
"Unfortunately they all arrive in Italy, and while the EU has not shown sufficient solidarity with us up to now, now it is beginning to understand this is necessary," Tajani went on.
"These people do not stay on Lampedusa," Tajani underlined, referring to the Italy's tiny, southernmost island which lies between Sicily Tunisia and Libya, where many thousands of boat migrants arrive annually.
"This is why we have tried to tighten up the rules on immigration," Tajani said.
The Senate on Thursday approved a controversial bill set out in a government decree passed in February, which includes controversial restrictions on Italy's protection regime for refugees and asylum-seekers and jail terms of up to 30 years for people traffickers.
Italy's lower house of parliament must now vote the migrant bill into law.
Tajani said he hoped that EU foreign ministers would approve financial aid for crisis-hit Tunisia at a meeting in Brussels on Monday.
