'The only difference': The ghost of Gaddafi is hovering over the European refugee crisis
There's a tragically ironic subtext to Europe's refugee crisis, which is becoming increasingly problematic as the war in Syria rages.
Turkey has become the prime entry point for hundreds of thousands of Syrians making their way to Europe, and Italy's navy continues to rescue thousands of refugees off Libya's coast.
And now that the refugee influx has intensified, Italy can no longer count on a key ally who helped stem the flow in the past: Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who died in 2011 after being ousted by a NATO-backed revolution.
"The EU has never wanted to take those people in. The only difference is that before we were paying Gaddafi so we didn't have to deal with them," Anand Menon, professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King's College, told Business Insider.
Menon added that the EU's recent announcement that it would start cracking down on the deportation of people who do not qualify for asylum is a "clearly politically motivated" move in line with Europe's longstanding foreign policies.
In 2009, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Gaddafi signed an agreement that Italy would pay Libya $5 billion over 25 years as a repayment for its occupation of Libya in the first half of the 20th century.
What Italy got out of the deal, besides strengthening its energy ties with the African country, was clear: Libya would crack down on the migrants trying to cross into Europe.
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A year later, Humans Rights Watch (HRW) published a report blasting Italy for the deal and its treatment of the people trying to reach its shores. The report said conditions in migrants' detention camps across Libya "generally qualify as inhuman and degrading" and that migrants and refugees often undergo "brutal treatment."
Meanwhile, the HRW report said, Italy blocked people from entering the country without any regard for whether they would qualify as refugees.
The agreement falls apart
Shortly after the beginning of the Libyan civil war in February 2011, Italy suspended the "friendship deal" it had with Libya as the agreement included a non-aggression clause. That meant Italy would not allow its territory to be used as base for any military action against the African country.
A few weeks later, as Gaddafi desperately tried to hold on to power, he told French media, "There are millions of blacks who could come to the Mediterranean to cross to France and Italy, and Libya plays a role in security in the Mediterranean."
The Italian government managed to renew the agreement with the Libyan National Transitional Council in April 2012, even though the European Court of Human Rights found just a few months earlier that Italy had violated migrants' rights by sending them back to Libya.
But Libya has continued its descent into chaos since the deal was renewed, and it seems clear Italy may no longer be able to count on the country to help keep out the influx of refugees.
Europe's answer is 'not good enough' for Italy
For months, Italy has been at the forefront of the refugee crisis in Europe and, along with Greece, has been pressing Northern European countries to help. Amid waves of refugees, many of them fleeing Syrian regime barrel bombs, other European countries did nothing, and when they realized the magnitude of the crisis, they did too little.
As Europe faces its worse migration crisis since World War II, the response shows one crucial vulnerability at the heart of the union: The countries have not been able after months of struggling to decide on one common response.
Germany's leading party and its Bavarian counterparts recently agreed to create transit zones through which asylum seekers would need to go before entering the country. Those with virtually no chance of gaining asylum will have to go back. And the UK appeals court just backed a "deport first, appeal later" policy.
He emphasized that the crisis "should not be underestimated."
"Let me be clear, Europe's answers so far have not been good enough," Renzi added.