In Italy, local mayors have slammed national migrant reception policy over the course of the past few days.

Interior ministry sources called these criticisms "surreal" in statements made Sunday (August 20).

"The non-adoption of the state of emergency by four regions led by the center-left has led to a delay in some interventions across the country," the sources said, referring to the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Campania and Puglia, which have not complied with an order providing for urgent measures to deal with a state of emergency as concerns migrants.

On Monday, Matteo Biffoni, head of migration issues for the Italian National Association of Municipalities (ANCI), responded to these statements by saying that "it is a bit irregular to respond to 'interior ministry sources' that do not put their name and surname on their statements. However, it is necessary to point out the facts."

"These sources," he added, "should speak to mayors, not to Democratic Party mayors but all of them and across all of Italy since even in regions where they signed the agreement with the interior ministry -- such as Veneto and Lombardy -- mayors say that the situation is out of control."

Mayors claim 'national reception system has given up'

ANCI said it is particularly concerned with how the interior ministry is handling accommodation of unaccompanied minors.

Biffoni, mayor of the Tuscan town of Prato, said the number of unaccompanied minors is so high that local administrations will not be able to "ensure compliance with the conditions established by law, and the central state is the one responsible. There are no initial reception hubs and there is no money for cultural mediation."

The Bologna municipality, among others, raised the alarm in a statement that claimed the country was experiencing the "surrender of the national reception system and an unsustainable passing the buck off on local governments."

He went on to note that, "at the current rate of migrant arrivals, these numbers will rise to the point of a few hundred people per week, who, without a reception network, will remain literally in the street."

However, right-wing League party mayors in the Veneto region have also taken their distance from the government's management, reiterating their rejection of hubs and widespread reception.

"Those who do not have the right to be in Italy must be sent back. Sheds, offices and gyms cannot be used to store migrants. These are not appropriate structures," they said.

Meanwhile, Puglia regional president Michele Emiliano, one of the four Democratic Party governors, said "the government does not have any strategy on migration management."

As the polemics rage on, the flow of migrants does not cease: from June 1 until August 18, according to data released by the Italian interior ministry, some 55,318 migrants were disembarked in Italy, with a daily average of over 700.