Premier Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday demanded the EU deliver urgent help for Italy to manage the Mediterranean asylum-seeker crisis. "We are under pressure and we ask for a concrete contribution from the Europeans," Gentiloni said at a press conference at the end of a preparatory meeting in Berlin ahead of the G20. "Italy has never ducked its commitments and it does not intend to do so, but we call for a discussion of the role of the NGOs (rescuing asylum seekers at sea), the Frontex mission and the resources available to work in Libya and other African countries".
Italy took a formal step to protest the emergency with Brussels Wednesday and said that foreign ships may be stopped from docking in Italian ports unless the situation improves.
Rome said the situation, with its impact on social and political life, was "unsustainable" and "at the limit" after over 12,000 migrants landed within 48 hours.
On Thursday Spanish ship Rio Segura arrived at the port of Salerno with 1,216 migrants on board, double the number expected and allowed. Migrants on board included 11 pregnant women, 256 minors and 13 babies.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday hailed Italy and Greece as heroic in reference to their efforts to cope with the asylum-seeker crisis. "For some time we in the Commission have been convinced that we cannot abandon Italy or Greece," Juncker told a press conference at the end of the Berlin summit to prepare for the G20. "Together we must make an effort to support these two heroic nations"
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