EU papers over differences after ‘frank’ migration talks

But on 24 June in Brussels will be held a mini-summit on migration, which is convened by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged his European Union partners to help Spain deal with a growing number of arrivals across the Mediterranean Sea.

He added: “Everyone agreed on the need to have a European vision, a common position on a common challenge”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is battling a domestic political crisis with her coalition partners over migration, played down hopes that a full European Union summit starting on Thursday will clinch any comprehensive agreement on how to deal with migration and refugees.

“There is no national solution”, he said.

The announcement came as Italy and Malta once again locked horns over who should take charge of a German NGO boat, carrying over 200 migrants, now stranded in the Mediterranean.

Their position, shared by Austria, stands in sharp contrast to a multiple-point plan outlined by Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte on Sunday that would increase responsibility for all EU countries in dealing with migrants, including handling asylum claims of those arriving on Italian and other European shores.

In answer to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said migration flows towards Europe had reduced compared with a few years ago, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said Macron’s words showed he was out of touch.

In France, almost 60% of the people are opposed to receiving migrants from Italy and Greece and an even bigger proportion agree that the Aquarius should not have docked in France.

It means, among other measures, setting up global protection centres in African transit countries to assess asylum applications.

Sixteen EU leaders are to meet to address the thorny issue of how the EU can tackle the renewed influx of migrants and refugees seeking a new life in Europe.

Berlin’s other idea is to send back those asylum seekers who make it to countries like Germany to the states of their first arrival, like Italy.

Salvini has demanded that Malta, the EU’s smallest country, allow the Lifeline to dock because it was in the island’s waters.

Amnesty International described such reception centers as “docking platforms for refugees and asylum-seekers”, and called their creation as “irresponsible as it is risky”. “The rescue obligation can not become an obligation to process applications on behalf of all”, notes the plan.

Earlier this month Salvini triggered an EU-wide row when he barred the Aquarius rescue ship, chartered by French charity SOS Mediterranee, carrying around 630 migrants, from docking in Italy. Currently, migrants are processed in the state in which they arrive-something that has recently placed a lopsided burden on countries like Italy, where the migrant crisis has not abated as much as it has elsewhere.

However, the mood remains tense. The standoff threatens to unseat Merkel should her shaky coalition break apart.

Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini on Friday reiterated his hard line on immigration.

Referring to hasty arrangements and a domestic crisis over migration policies within Merkel’s coalition government, the fervently anti-migrant Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, said: “We understand that countries have domestic political difficulties, but this can’t result in pan-European confusion”.

Since 2015, migration has decided elections across the bloc from Italy to Hungary, with voters favoring a tougher stance.

The leaders of the Visegrad group countries, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, announced on Thursday they would be boycotting Sunday’s summit altogether.