The thousands of migrants headed for southern Europe from Africa, the Middle East and Asia are the responsibility of the entire bloc, Italy's foreign under-secretary and Germany's deputy parliament speaker Thomas Oppermann agreed on Thursday.
"The migrants who aim to reach Italy, Greece or Spain are actually heading for the European Union, and its 27 member states have a shared responsibility for them," Ivan Scalfarotto said.
"When there is a crisis within the EU, the crisis must be managed by the whole bloc. Those countries that are impacted the most should not be left on their own," Scalfarotto continued.
During talks at the foreign ministry in Rome, Scalfarotto and Opperman agreed that all of Europe needs to share more the burden of the migration crisis, according to a statement by Scalfarotto's office.
A new asylum and migration pact unveiled by the European Commission "goes some way towards recognising Italy's needs," the statement said.
"A negotiating phase is needed however to review some critical issues that the new pact raises for Italy and for the whole of European migration policy," the statement added.
