Italy's new pro-European government will not encourage migrants or backslide on its '"very rigourous" policies, premier Giuseppe Conte said on Monday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
"We will not accept policies that attract more migrants to Italy. Our approach is very rigourous and we will not retreat by a millimetre," Conte said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Referring to a European Union interior ministers' summit in Malta on Monday, Conte said: "What's new today is the willingness to look at a mechanism that shows solidarity," Conte stated.
EU countries are warming to an automatic migrant redistribution mechanism "that will not leave Italy on its own," he said.
Another proposal under discussion is to "rotate" the ports where migrants are landed (which currently is most often Italy), Conte said.
"We are also working for a more effective (EU) mechanism for repatriations (of failed asylum-seekers)," Conte stated.
"We can't keep migrants on Italian soil."
Conte praised France and Germany for their "great sensibility" on migration.
"There is great sensibility among our partners on this topic. Let's not forget that France and Germany have resolved many emergencies," said Conte.
France's president Emmanuel Macron, whom Conte met last week in Rome, "is very open", he said.
