(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 8 - Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said progress had been made on an agreement to manage migration flows to Europe at Thursday's meeting of EU interior ministers and the Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg but that it was not enough.
    "There is an objection to the principle of connection," said Piantedosi referring to the possibility of deporting irregular migrants to third countries rather than to their countries of origin.
    This "remains a diriment point and there are difficulties if we do not find a further form of compromise," he added. Such a possibility would "allow a projection of the EU in the external dimension, while respecting human rights and international law," he explained.
    "We are grateful for the mediation and the progress achieved on other points of the text," the minister added.
    EU interior ministers were trying to thrash out an agreement on managing refugees and migrants arriving by land and sea in the bloc to ensure greater solidarity and responsibility sharing with front-line countries such as Italy.
    Some 53,606 people arrived in Italy by sea in the period January 1 - June 8 according to interior ministry data.
    This compares to 21,243 over the same period in 2022 and to 15,195 in 2021. (ANSA).