Some EU countries closed to migration, says Italian official

Rome Nov 8 (IANS/AKI) While Italy keeps fighting hard to manage the influx of migrants in the Mediterranean a "closed" attitude by some European countries is compounding this task and hampering dialogue a top Italian government official said.

"We encounter a closed attitude from Europe. Even though Italy has fought and continues to fight tooth and nail big problems remain and with certain European Union countries dialogue is truly complicated " said Mario Marcone who heads the Italian Interior Ministry s Immigration Department.

He was referring to the EU s failure to relocate 160 000 refugees who arrived in Italy and Greece - a figure agreed by EU leaders in September 2015.

In September less than 28 000 people had been relocated to other EU countries - in the face of opposition from several Eastern European countries notably Hungary Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Romania also voted against the quota scheme.

--IANS/AKI
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