Immigration security

News Analysis: Italy emerging as key player as EU gears up to confront migrant crisis

The Italian government has emerged as a key player in transforming the way the European Unionwill approach the worldwide migrant crisis.

The most recent developments came on Feb. 4, when leaders from 28 European Union states gathered in Malta for what was billed as an "informal summit" on the migrant crisis agreed to a new 31-billion-euro (33.1 billion U.S. dollars) plan to stem the flow of migrants into Europe.

The tone for the summit was set two days earlier, when Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni met with Libyan counterpart Fayez Al-Sarraj in Rome, where they unveiled a bilateral cooperation agreement where Italy will help Libya finance an array of domestic initiatives.

But the Malta summit was the big news. And while the plan negotiated there has drawn mixed reviews, the summit was significant because it showed the EU has begun searching for solutions to the migrant crisis as a bloc -- a view Italy has long promoted.