More than 200,000 migrants in Italy may be granted temporary EU visas, enabling them to travel anywhere in Europe. The move, which has been described as a ‘nuclear option’, has been threatened in a bid to deal with the country’s migrant and refugee crisis. It means that new arrivals to Italy would be able to travel across Europe using the Brussels directive, according to The Times.
The little known Brussel’s directive gives displaced people entry to Europe for a certain period of time. Mario Giro, the deputy foreign minister, said he believes the country can exploit European Council Directive 2001/55 to give temporary permits to a large number of people. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni is said to be ‘livid’ that other parts of Europe have refused to take a ‘fair share’ of migrants. Italy have been struggling to cope with the number of people fleeing north Africa. Speaking to The Times, Mr Giro and Luigi Manconi, a senator with the ruling Democratic Party, confirmed that the temporary visas are under discussion.
Mattia Toaldo, a senior analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, described the idea as a ‘nuclear option’. He said: ‘If migrants continue to arrive and Italy decides to give them papers to cross borders and leave Italy it would be a nuclear option. ‘Italians have lost any hope of getting help from the EU and may say, “If you won’t make it a common challenge, we will”.’
Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/15/italy-may-grant-temporary-eu-visas-to-2000…
