(VOVworld) – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has blamed European countries for backtracking on their commitments to accept asylum seekers.

Migrants, rescued by the Italian coastguards, arrive on the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, on May 2, 2015.

Earlier the European Commission had proposed a quota system for its member countries, to share the burden of housing hundreds of thousands of people while their claims for asylum are processed. Germany and Sweden said that they would accept a large share, while the UK and France strongly opposed the quota plan.
Renzi said that opposing the plan might undermine the EU’s strategy for dealing with waves of immigrants coming into Europe, calling on European countries to reach an agreement on the issue at late June’s EU Summit.
Since the beginning of this year, some 1,800 people have drowned in their attempts to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.