Mario Draghi

Italy is pushing EU partners to revive migrant burden-sharing deals as it seeks to stave off a summertime surge in landings from North Africa, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Wednesday (12 May).

Migration has returned to the top of the political agenda in Italy after more than 2,200 asylum-seekers from Tunisia and Libya arrived on its tiny island of Lampedusa last weekend.

Italy is aiming to open the country to tourists in mid-May, pledging a range of measures to protect visitors from the coronavirus as it scrambles to rescue a sector devastated by lockdowns and restrictions on movement, Bloomberg reports.

 Italy has brought forward the easing of coronavirus restrictions, meaning people can enjoy al fresco dining from April 26.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced the easing of rules, almost a week earlier than planned, at a press conference Friday. The reopening includes schools as well as open-air restaurants, bars, cinemas and theaters.

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has slammed Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi for calling President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a dictator, stressing the Turkish history has never created leaders like "Duce" or "Führer."

Turkish ministers condemned on April 9 the Italian prime minister's remarks on the country's president.

"I condemn the low and unacceptable way of the appointed Italian Prime Minister [Mario Draghi] towards our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan," Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan said on Twitter over the remarks of Draghi, calling Erdoğan a "dictator."

Turkey's Foreign Ministry on April 8 summoned the Italian ambassador to condemn the Italian premier's remarks on the country's president.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi at a news conference earlier on April 8 called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a "dictator."

The prime ministers of Italy and Greece on April 6 joined a growing number of foreign leaders visiting Libya as it seeks to emerge from a decade of post-revolution chaos under a U.N.-sponsored peace process.

The Italian government intends to make the whole of Italy a Covid-19 'red zone' from 3 to 5 April, a period which includes Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, sources told ANSA on Friday. PM Mario Draghi's government is set to impose a new regime of measures in force from 15 March until 6 April, with coronavirus cases rising sharply in Italy, the sources said.

Italy's latest emergency decree, signed by premier Mario Draghi, extends most of the existing covid-19 restrictions and closes all schools in red zones or areas with high infection rates.

A renewed relationship between Turkey and the European Union will be in the mutual interest of both sides in line with the positive agenda adopted in the recent EU Council meeting, Italy's ambassador to Ankara has said, underlining that reforms to be announced soon in the field of rule of law will be welcomed by the EU.