Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio says his country could refuse to pay EU contributions if Brussels does not change it's attitude on the migrant issue
ADVERTISEMENTItaly's deputy prime minister said he would take a hard line with the European Commission if there is no progress in a Brussels meeting on Friday over the redistribution of migrants being held on a coast guard ship in Sicily.
Luigi de Maio used social media and TV on Thursday to tell the Italian people that a soft line is not working and that the government could even withhold EU funding over the issue:
"If the European Union obsesses with this attitude, if tomorrow nothing comes out of a European Commission meeting on redistributing migrants from the Diciotti ship, the 5-Star party and I will not be willing to give 20 billion euros each year to the EU."
Italy has recently been mired in a diplomatic spat with Malta over where the vessel Diciotti should disembark the 150 migrants. Malta will be one of the countries at the meeting in Brussels. Migration has become a heated issue within the EU as the Mediterranean countries call on other member states to do more to help.