Roundup: Migrant crisis sparks political, social conflict in Italy

The migrant crisis, which has reached alarming proportions with countless sea arrivals into the southern coasts of Italy over the past weeks, has caused social discontent and political dispute between Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and opposition forces.

As European leaders met on the migrant issue in Brussels in the June 25-26 summit, Renzi said that for the first time Europe has acknowledged the problem and "has opened a window of opportunity." The summit came after a European Union (EU) naval operation was launched on Monday against human traffickers in the Mediterranean.

Following late-night talks, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday that 40,000 people will be relocated from Greece and Italy to other states over the next two years and 20,000 will be resettled. But no details emerged from the agreement and there will be no mandatory quotas for each country.

Italy has been wracked by tension over the migrant crisis in the past weeks. Migration centers in the largest cities are overcrowded with the increasing flows of migrants fleeing North African poverty- and unrest-stricken nations. Groups of migrants were placed by the government in buildings and hotels in smaller towns and suburbs, which often live from tourism and have denounced lack of security and of health measures.

Continuing unemployment and weak economy in the country have fueled anti-immigrant sentiments. It emerged from a survey of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) released on Friday that as many as 25 percent of Italians see the migrant crisis as the most serious menace for their country.

Tension has mounted also with France that refused the entry of migrants from the northern border close to the Italian town of Ventimiglia. More than 100 migrants camped on seaside rocks, went on hunger strike or strapped themselves to fences in protest against the denial.

According to the EU border agency Frontex, at least 153,000 migrants have tried to enter the EU this year, a 149 percent rise compared with last year. Italy has received some 61,400 migrants by sea so far in 2015, and some 170,000 in 2014, Italian government estimates said.

In a meeting held on Thursday in Rome with Italian regional authorities ahead of the Brussels summit, Renzi suggested that "refugees seekers shall be allowed to remain in Italy, while economic migrants shall be repatriated." He also said he was "optimist that Italy will make its voice heard."

The center-left prime minister also called for more collaboration at the European level on an issue that is a weight entirely off Italy's shoulders. He referred to the Dublin regulation, which states that all new migrants arriving in the EU must be processed by the country where they have first landed.

But opposition forces said the government has been guiltily underestimating a dramatic emergency. "Local authorities should fulfill the needs of their territories ... they should not answer the central government's phone calls anymore," Luca Zaia, President of Veneto, one of the most productive regions in Italy, said.

"We are paying the price of the government's incapacity to realize that 13,000 migrants arrived into Italy in 2012, then another 43,000 in 2013, as many as 170,000 in 2014 and 200,000 are expected this year," Zaia, a member of center-right Northern League party that is opposed to opening the country to migrants, highlighted.

"The meeting with Renzi was absolutely useless and disappointing. There was no concrete answer to the problem. The chaos of immigration is continuing," Roberto Maroni, President of Lombardy, Italy's most advanced region, and also a member of Northern League, commented. "The prime minister has asked to overcome divisions but he is just able to chatter. What I ask is concrete answers to concrete plans," Maroni pointed out.

On Thursday, nearly 500 new migrants were taken to southern Sicily Island after being rescued at sea. A woman from Syria was reported to have died of consumption. Thousands of migrants have lost their life in the perilous crossing organized by traffickers who make business out of migrants' despair. Endite