Will the rest of Europe follow Italy’s tough stance on migration?

Europe is again debating who should look after refugees and migrants who have risked their lives to escape war and violence in their own countries.

More than 500 people who are stuck on rescue boats in the Mediterranean Sea have nowhere to go.

Italy and Malta have refused them entry, and no European country has offered to take them in.

Italy’s anti-immigrant Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is riding high in opinion polls, and is hoping to force a snap election.

Statistics show migrant arrivals in Italy have fallen by nearly 80 percent over the past year.

So, is being tough on migration the answer for the rest of Europe?

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra

Guests:

Catherine Woollard – Secretary-general of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles

John Campbell – Emeritus reader of anthropology at SOAS University of London who has written extensively on asylum and migration to Europe

Ulrich Brueckner – Political scientist and professor in European Studies at Stanford University in Berlin