Italy has again appealed for help in dealing with the ever increasing numbers of migrants reaching its shores.
It has called for a change in the asylum rules. The Dublin regulations stipulate that most asylum seekers must stay in the first country they reach.
Currently, neighbouring France and Austria have put in border controls and rejected hundreds of migrants, forcing them back into Italy where many have taken to sleeping rough and in rail stations in Rome and Milan.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said that the international community had a responsibility for the chaos which resulted in Libya after it helped topple Gaddafi in 2011. The turmoil in Libya has let hundreds of thousands of migrants use it for embarkation to southern Italy.
"If the European Council chooses solidarity, then good. If it doesn't, we have a Plan B ready but that would be a wound inflicted on Europe," he said, but gave no details.
Italy has been struggling to rescue and then receive the desperate migrants, let along to settle them. Although the fourth largest economy in the EU, it was hit hard by the Great Recession and remains very weak.
The country has often complained about the burden it is shouldering without adequate help from its European partners.
In a separate interview, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that Europe has to sign repatriation agreements with all African countries and create centres in Libya where those not qualifying for asylum would be returned to their own countries.
"If Europe does not fulfil its own responsibilities and show solidarity, it will find a different Italy facing it."
Meanwhile, the country saw a surge in popularity of the anti-immigration Northern League in regional elections last month. The richer northern parts of the country, such as Lombardy and Veneto, are resisting the transfer of refugees from overcrowded reception centres in the south.
As the numbers rise, so does the tension on migrant policy within the EU.
