Italy urges EU ports to take migrants as pressure builds
With arrivals of migrants and refugees in Italy up nearly 19 percent over the same period last year, Rome has threatened to close its ports to privately-funded aid boats or insist that funding be cut to EU countries which fail to help .PHOTO| AFP
What you need to know:
The working dinner at the French interior ministry -- also attended by EU Commissioner for Refugees Dimitris Avramopoulos -- was aimed at finding "a coordinated and concerted response to the migrant flux in the central Mediterranean (route) and see how to better help the Italians," a source close the talks said.
The four-way talks between Minniti, Thomas de Maiziere of Germany, Gerard Collomb of France and Avramopoulos will also prepare them for EU talks in Tallinn this week.
