Summary
Europe must choose between its Schengen open borders and its Dublin rules on asylum procedures because the migrant crisis means the two are no longer compatible, Italy said Tuesday.
Italy wants a review of the Dublin convention's clause which requires asylum-seekers coming into the EU to be processed in their country of arrival, a rule Rome regards as unsustainable given that most migrants arrive by crossing the Mediterranean to Italy or Greece from North Africa or Turkey.
More than 320,000 asylum-seekers and other migrants have landed in Italy since the start of 2014 .
Italy is now under intense pressure from its EU partners to start processing all the newly arrived boat people – finger-printing them forcibly if necessary – and the flow of migrants has brought the Schengen system of open borders within the bloc to the brink of collapse.
...