REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ROME -- Germany, France and Italy called for an overhaul of laws on the right of asylum and a fairer distribution of migrants throughout the European Union, Italy's foreign minister said Wednesday.

The foreign ministers of the three countries signed a joint letter emphasising the inadequacies of the current system of asylum.

In the letter, signed by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Paolo Gentiloni and Laurent Fabius, they called for "a fair distribution of refugees throughout the European Union."

The document was addressed to the EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, ahead of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Friday and Saturday.

Italy has long called for an EU policy on immigration and the creation of a EU law on asylum, something that would require the reform of existing legislation.

Accords reached in Dublin in 1990 on the right of asylum oblige refugees to make their case in the first EU country they reach, where they should also be registered.

But countries in northern Europe complain that Italy and Greece fail to identify the new arrivals, allowing many to continue travelling to seek asylum elsewhere.

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