Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi says the EU should pay Libya at least 5bn euros (£4bn; $6.3bn) a year to stop illegal African immigration and avoid a “black Europe”.
Speaking on a visit to Italy, Col Gaddafi said Europe “could turn into Africa” as “there are millions of Africans who want to come in”.
Italy has drawn criticism for handing over to Libya migrants it intercepts at sea, without screening them first.
Far fewer now reach Italy from Libya.
We don’t know… what will be the reaction of the white and Christian Europeans faced with this influx of starving and ignorant Africans”
European Commission figures show that in 2009 the number of people caught trying to enter Italy illegally fell to 7,300, from 32,052 in 2008. The data was collected under the EU’s Eurodac fingerprinting system.