Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Wednesday that Italy will not accept unilateral moves by Austria on the asylum-seeker crisis, after Vienna started reinforcing controls at its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass, including via the construction of a new barrier. "Austria is a friendly country with whom I hope we can continue to cooperate, but we cannot accept the logic of these unilateral gestures that would compromise this capacity for cooperation," he said. Gentiloni said "burdens and responsibilities should not be offloaded onto one's neighbours" because there is "a need to have a joint agenda on a European level on the migration issue".
He said "the emergency will be a problem which will see us involved in the years to come. Simplistic responses cannot be given to this problem". He said "I say that also in reference to Austria".
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