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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 19 July 2017
Italy considers emergency visas to ease migrant strain

allies,” he told Sky. in recent waves would be weekend. He will join some
Gentiloni has already had immediately eligible under 40 mayors from the area
to abandon one proposed the five-year legal residen- around Messina, which is
legislative measure to tack- cy requirement. expecting thousands of
le the migrant crisis. Amid a Meanwhile, mayors new arrivals, in a meeting
political backlash, he has throughout Italy, particu- with the local prefect later
withdrawn from the Senate larly in the south, are re- this week.
consideration of a new citi- volting against the gov- All of this has pushed Genti-
zenship law for migrant chil- ernment’s attempts to loni’s hand.
dren until after the summer relocate migrants to their Italy’s neighbors are wor-
break. Opponents of the midst. In one Sicilian town, ried that the proposed vi-
A demonstrator carries wire representing border razor wire fenc- law, which has passed in Castel’Umberto, the may- sas could allow migrants
es, as he marches with others during a protest in support of mi- the lower house, have lev- or joined a protest that to continue their jour-
grant people seeking to enter Europe, in Madrid, Saturday, July eraged on the crisis — even temporarily blocked 50 ney to other European
15, 2017. though no migrants arriving migrants from a hotel this countries.q
(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
By COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press
MILAN (AP) — With Italians
showing increasing discon-
tent over unabated mi-
grant arrivals and Europe-
an partners not responding
to pleas to ease Italy’s bur-
den, the country’s lead-
ers are considering what
many have dubbed the
nuclear option: approv-
ing emergency visas for
migrants that could allow
them unrestricted travel
in Europe.Premier Paolo
Gentiloni is under growing
domestic pressure over the
migrant crisis, with more
than 85,000 migrants have
arrived in Italy in the first
half of this year, a 20 per-
cent increase over last
year. Asylum requests are
up by 25 percent.
The emergency visa pro-
posal was not on the agen-
da when foreign ministers
met in Brussels on Monday
— but it was a hot topic on
the sidelines. Italian Foreign
Minister Angelino Alfano
denied media reports that
200,000 visas could be is-
sued under the plan. But
other Italian officials have
acknowledged the plan is
being considered, if only to
gain negotiating leverage
at the EU table.
“It is not a threat. It is an
instrument of persuasion,”
Italian Senator Luigi Man-
coni of the Democratic
Party told private Sky TG24
this weekend. He con-
firmed that the idea was
being studied by Interior
Minister Marco Minniti.
A deputy in the foreign
ministry, Mario Giro, ac-
knowledged that Italy
lacks leverage in Brussels.
“At the moment we don’t
have a strong negotiating
power, but we need to find