Italy threatens to hand out Schengen Visas
Europe has reached a stalemate over the migration crisis across the Mediterranian from Libya. The lack of a coherent immigration policy is pushing Italy to give out Schengen visas to all the migrants, which will allow them to travel elsewhere in Europe. Italy's PM Matteo Renzi also threatened to stop receiving the migrant boats on Italian shores if no agreement was reached by EU.
European nations have been grappling with the influx of illegal migrants since the beginning of 2011. Thousands of Tunisian migrants flocked to the Italian island of Lampedusa after their President was overthrown. The latest were the sub-Saharan migrants who had moved to Libya and had started fleeing in the post-Qaddafi era. Syrian and Eritrean refugees had also joined in the influx.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, more than 1,750 migrants have perished in the Mediterranean since the start of 2015 - more than 30 times higher than that during the same period of 2014.
The Common European Asylum System was endorsed by the European Parliament on 12 June 2013 and would be implemented in all EU Member States. The aim of the common system is to ensure fair and humane treatment of asylum seekers in Europe, wherever they arrive. Asylum seekers will not be transferred to EU countries where there is a risk of inhuman or degrading treatment.
The EU members had been asked to take in 40,000 migrants from Syria and Eritrea for the next 2 years by the European Commission. The migrants are to be divided through the quota system. Germany, France and Spain would receive the most migrants under the Commission's latest plan. The UK government said that it would not take part in such a system.
In a further setback to the migration crisis, it seems that the European countries will not settle on the quota till September. Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and the Baltic state have argued that the binding quotas are unfair as they cannot support the immigrants as well as the other affluent nations can. The crisis is fast escalating with rising migrant deaths at sea.
