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Italian FM: EU Must Prepare for Libyan Refugees

24 February 2011 02:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Italy’s foreign minister says European Union countries must prepare themselves for the arrival of up to 350,000 refugees fleeing the violence in Libya, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

Franco Frattini says European countries are faced with a very serious situation, noting that Italy cannot cope with a mass influx of Libyan refugees on its own.

Thousands of Tunisian refugees have already arrived in Italy since the government of Tunisia’s long-time ruler, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, collapsed in a popular uprising last month.

Frattini’s comments came as interior ministers from Italy, Cyprus, France, Greece, Malta and Spain met Wednesday in Rome. Those southern European nations will likely be a main destination in the event of a mass immigrant exodus from Libya.

Interior ministers from all 27 EU nations are due to hold talks on the issue Thursday in Brussels.

More than 5,000 Tunisians have landed on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in recent days. Italy has declared a humanitarian emergency on the island and is appealing to the European Union for help.

The bloc on Saturday said it will deploy a team from the Warsaw-based EU border agency Frontex to Italy to help handle the flow of illegal migrants from North Africa in the wake of political upheavals in the region.