Italy calls for solidarity from EU partners, many reluctant to sign up to refugee plan

Italian Police remove migrants in Ventimiglia, at the Italian-French border Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Police at Italy's Mediterranean border with France have forcibly removed some of the African migrants who have been camping out for days in hopes of continuing their journeys farther north. The migrants, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, have been camped out for five days after French border police refused to let them cross. (Luca Zennaro/ANSA via AP) (The Associated Press)

A migrant is evacuated by Italian police at the Franco-Italian border near Menton, southeastern France, Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Some 150 migrants, principally from Eritrea and Sudan, have been trying since last Friday to cross the border from Italy but have been blocked by French and Italian police. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau) (The Associated Press)

A migrant is treated by Italian Red Cross staff during his evacuation by Italian police at the Franco-Italian border near Menton, southeastern France, Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Some 150 migrants, principally from Eritrea and Sudan, have been trying since last Friday to cross the border from Italy but have been blocked by French and Italian police. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau) (The Associated Press)

Italy is urging reluctant European Union partners to sign up to a plan to share 40,000 refugees, as French police forcibly removed migrants trying to cross their common border.

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano called Tuesday for solidarity with front-line countries Italy and Greece as tens of thousands of migrants cross the Mediterranean in search of sanctuary in the EU.

He says that Italy is "working to avoid the political bankruptcy of Europe."

Alfano met with fellow EU interior ministers in Luxembourg to debate a plan for obligatory relocation of Syrian and Eritrean refugees to other European countries over the next two years.

Only about 10 of the EU's 28 nations support the plan and even those that do disagree with the calculations for distributing the refugees.