Rome: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to discuss tensions over migrants from North Africa. Italy has angered France by granting visas to thousands of migrants, allowing them to travel across Europe’s border-free Schengen zone.
About 25,000 migrants have arrived in southern Italy so far this year, many driven by the unrest in North Africa.
Many of the migrants are Tunisian and want to join relatives in France.
Officials say it is hoped President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Berlusconi can put aside their differences and agree joint proposals to take to Brussels when they meet in Rome on Tuesday morning.
Among the ideas being discussed are ways of reinstating border controls if an external crisis triggers a flood of migrants.
France “does not want to suspend Schengen,” but “review the safeguard clauses in particular situations,” Henri Guaino, a special adviser to Sarkozy, was quoted as saying by media reports.
Italy Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the Schengen accords were “one of the two pillars of Europe [which] along with the euro, cannot be questioned” – but reportedly added that some kind of “technical control” could be introduced to make sure the treaty fitted with current realities.
The 1995 Schengen treaty allows legal residents of most EU countries, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland to travel across the zone without visas
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