International News

ROME, Oct 25 (APP/AFP): Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Tuesday threatened to veto the EU’s budget over a lack of solidarity from European neighbours as it struggles with a huge influx of migrants. “We give 20 billion (euros) to Europe so that we can get back 12 — and if Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia want to preach at us about immigrants, allow Italy to say that the system is no longer working,” Renzi told RAI 1 television. Asked if he was ready to use Italy’s veto to torpedo the EU’s budget, he said: “Yes, absolutely.” Renzi railed against central European countries that have closed off their borders to migrants and refused to take in asylum seekers under an EU quota plan as Europe battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. “If you build walls against immigrants, you can forget about seeing Italian money. If the immigrants don’t go there, the money won’t go there either,” he said. Italy’s Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan confirmed Tuesday evening that the government had received a letter from the European Commission demanding “clarifications” from Italy concerning its 2017 national budget.