"Walls are no protection, they are a trap" — Matteo Renzi | EPA Eastern members ‘owe a lot’ to Europe: Renzi Italian PM: “It is not right if these countries now tell us what to do.”

Eastern European countries opposed to hosting refugees should show more gratitude to EU member countries who supported their membership rather than trying to dictate policy on migration, said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

"They owe a lot to Europe," Renzi said in an interview with the German daily Die Welt. "The western European countries have paid a political price for the enlargement of Europe. It is not right if these countries now tell us what to do."

Deep divisions emerged this summer between Western Europe and the so-called Visegrád Four — Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, all of whom joined the EU in 2004 — who opposed mandatory quotas for reallocating refugees. Slovakia announced plans to challenge the quota system in the European Court of Justice.



Renzi said Italy was not asking for help dealing with the arrivals of migrants across the Mediterranean. "We ourselves deal with the number of migrants. But the entire challenge is something that Europe as a whole should take up,” he said.

Evoking memories of the Berlin Wall, he warned against the current trend to re-erect fences along Europe's frontiers to try to control the influx of migrants from war zones like Syria via Turkey, Greece and the Balkans. Slovenia became the latest country to roll out barbed-wire fencing on its border with Croatia on Wednesday, Sweden reintroduced border controls on Thursday.

"Walls are no protection, they are a trap," said the Italian prime minister. "The refugee crisis is something that we should solve together, and let’s be honest about it, this will take many years."

Part of tackling the issue, he said, was embracing the aspirations to EU membership of countries in the Balkans.

"We should change direction. The union will be enlarged through the east side. It will be a historical and tragic mistake if we leave out the Balkan countries. The enlargement with Albania, Montenegro and Serbia should be a priority."

The 40-year-old Italian, who took office in February last year, also gave his assessment of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for whom he has "great respect" despite disagreeing on some issues -- notably, austerity.

"It's a good relationship. We are very honest with each other also on those topics where we have different opinions," Renzi said. "On European economic policy in the last 10 years she was focused on austerity measures not on growth. For me that was a mistake."