Italy steps up call for EU help with migrant crisis

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stepped up calls for Europe to help deal with the "human tsunami" of refugees and illegal immigrants from North Africa arriving in southern Italian islands in recent weeks.

"Europe cannot get out of this," he said during a visit to Lampedusa, the tiny island located midway between Sicily and Tunisia.

"Either Europe is something that's real and concrete or it isn't and in that case it's better to go back to each going our own way and letting everyone follow their own policies and egotism."

Lampedusa has borne the brunt of a crisis in which some 25,000 people have arrived in overloaded fishing boats since the start of the year.

Rome has been at loggerheads with partners including France and Germany over the issue, which will be discussed at a meeting of European Union ministers in Brussels Monday.

Friday, the interior ministers of France and Germany agreed to set up joint patrols off the Tunisian coast to deter would-be migrants and Rome has also pledged assistance to Tunisia to try to halt the flow.

Speaking separately after an earlier meeting of EU finance ministers in Hungary, Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said Italy could not be expected to bear the costs of the wave of immigration on its own.

"A cheque that needs to be honored has arrived in Italy, but it will not stop in Lampedusa. It will arrive in Germany, in the north and all over Europe," Tremonti said.

"We would like to talk with EU partners about solidarity and responsibility. European countries created mechanisms of financial solidarity to cope with the financial crisis, now we have to talk about solidarity for geopolitical issues."

Earlier this week, EU development chief Andris Piebalgs said Italy should not just focus on immigration but step up its aid contribution to help stop uprisings in Africa and the Middle East spreading long-term unrest across the region and Europe.