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Libya Unrest Sparks Migrant Debate in the EU

   JulieAnn McKellogg | Washington  February 24, 2011
   Evacuees  from  Libya  step out of an Italian Air Force C-130 military
   plane at Rome's Pratica di Mare military airport, February 24, 2011

Photo: AP

   Evacuees  from  Libya  step out of an Italian Air Force C-130 military
   plane at Rome's Pratica di Mare military airport, February 24, 2011

   As  protest  violence  continued  across  Libya, European officials on
   Thursday  debated  how  to  handle  a possible influx of migrants into
   Europe from the North African country.
   Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni warned that Libya's political
   unrest could create a "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis.
   Maroni  told  reporters  in Brussels that the EU border agency Frontex
   estimates  that as many as 1.5 million refugees could pour into Italy,
   a number, he says, would "bring any state to its knees."
   The Italian interior minister pleaded for assistance from the European
   Union,  but  his  counterparts  showed  little interest in sharing the
   potential burden posed by those fleeing the violence in Libya.
   Austrian  Interior  Minister Maria Fekter said Italy should be able to
   manage,  her  country  already  is  among the top recipients of asylum
   seekers  in  Europe. "Austria is a much smaller country than Italy. We
   think  that  the figure of 5,000 [refugees] is figure of persons Italy
   can handle alone," she said.
   German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière downplayed the situation,
   noting there has been no major influx of people fleeing Libya.
   Italy  did  find  support from Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez