GETTY Matteo Renzi says EU states must accept migrants or face tough funding cuts

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Hungary and Poland are staunchly against European Union relocation quotas for refugees, with hundreds of thousands of citizens taking to the streets in violent protests against the immigration rules. The states, along with several other former communist countries, have even declined to pay penalties for refusing to take in any new asylum seekers despite Europe facing a huge population crisis. Now Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi has had enough of their attitudes - and has issued an ultimatum to rebel countries to pull their weight or pay the price with a drastic funding cut.

GETTY Hungary has refused to accept any of the migrants allocated to it in the EU quotas

Overall Italy has housed around 160,000 asylum seekers from the 460,000 who reached its shores from North Africa since the start of 2014, according to Interior Ministry data. A total of 39,600 refugees were due to be relocated from Italy under an EU quota plan, but so far only 1,300 have been moved as Eastern member states continue to defy EU rules. They claim immigration, especially from the Muslim cultures of the Middle East, would disrupt their homogeneous societies and religious communities. Thousands of people turned out at protests in Prague, the Czech Republic and Bratislava, with some holding banners aimed at the refugees reading: "You're not welcome here so go home."

GETTY Hungary PM Viktor Orban won a referendum against the migrant quotas

GETTY Earlier this month, 98 per cent of Hungarians voted in a referendum to reject quotas on migrants

Earlier this month, 98 per cent of Hungarians voted in a referendum to reject any future plans to accept EU quotas. Although the referendum failed to reach a quorum and so was not valid, Budapest hopes to enshrine the result in Hungary's constitution. In Slovakia, the government has demanded the EU drops the relocation plan and work on a better option - pledging to veto any attempt by the EU to impose mandatory refugee quotas.

Powerful images as migrants protest in Hungary Tue, April 4, 2017 Migrants protest outside Budapest's Keleti Railway Station after it was closed off by police to prevent people travelling on to western Europe Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 53 A migrant taunts Hungarian riot police as they fire tear gas and water cannon on the Serbian side of the border, near Roszke

The positive aspects of belonging to the EU must be balanced by the duties that come with membership Italy PM Matteo Renzi

The reluctance to help out has angered several European politicians in recent months, but now Mr Renzi has hit out against the rebel states with a dramatic demand. While outlining his priorities for the EU's next summit, he told parliament: "It's necessary that Italy be the promoter of a very tough position toward those countries that have received a lot of money for belonging to the bloc to relaunch their territories, and who are shirking their commitments to relocate immigrants." Many of the Eastern states opposed to the quota scheme receive cash from the bloc, taking up a huge portion of the current one-trillion-euro EU long-term budget.

GETTY Angela Merkel has previously said she regretted her open door policy

GETTY Italy has housed around 160,000 asylum seekers from the 460,000 who reached its shores