EU-Italy crisis talks FAIL: Italian leader LASHES OUT at ‘hypocrisy’ of European allies

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has criticised the “hypocrisy” at the centre of the European Union after crisis talks between the two sides failed.

Senior officials from 12 member states met yesterday in Brussels to try and thrash out a deal over the migrant boat Diciotti, which the Italian government refuses to accept.

However, the emergency meeting in Brussels ended without any agreement, according to the European Commission (EC).

The row erupted earlier this week when Italy refusesd to allow 150 migrants to disembark from a shop docked in Catania.

Italian officials have demanded that its EU partners agree to accept the migrants, with deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio even threatening to withhold budget contributions to the EU.

This has triggered an escalating spat, with one European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein claiming that “threats in Europe do not lead anywhere”. 

Mr Winterstein said he did not “want to go into hypothetical scenarios” on what might happen if Italy doesn’t pay its £18bn contribution.

Following the deal failure yesterday, EC spokeswoman Tove Ernst added: “It’s a meeting where participants will contribute to bringing the ongoing joint work on solutions forward

“This includes also cooperation between member states on disembarkation and responsibility sharing.

“You should not expect any precise decisions to be taken at the meeting today.”

In response, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte lashed out at his country’s European partners, accussing them of “hypocrisy”.

The Italian leader warned that this spat could spread into how Italy handles other EU issues.

He wrote on Facebook: “Italy is forced to take stock and acknowledge that Europe today has lost a good opportunity.

“At the urgently convened meeting of the European Commission, which has just ended, no follow-up was given to the conclusions of the last European Council at the end of June.

“Once again we see a discrepancy, which mutates into hypocrisy, between words and deeds.”

Mr Conte added that Italy would take account of this and “act accordingly on all the questions we have to deal with in Europe”.

The Italian government’s hardline immigration stance  has largely been led interior minister Matteo Salvini, who has barred international rescue ships from docking at the country’s ports.