EU leaders reach migration deal after overnight talks

FILE: Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has refused to allow migrants into Italy
Photo/SOS Mediterranee Italia

European Union leaders have reached an agreement on migration after nearly 10 hours of talks at a summit in Brussels.

Italy – the entry point of thousands of migrants, mainly from Africa – had threatened to veto the conclusions of the group’s entire agenda if it did not receive help on the issue.

Talks continued into the early hours of Friday before a compromise was reached.

Leaders said that new migrant centres could be set up in EU countries on a “voluntary” basis.

These centres would process migrants to determine which are genuine refugees and which are “irregular migrants, who will be returned”, the text of their agreement says.

However, it was unclear which countries would volunteer to host the centres.

The joint communique also speaks of restricting the movement of asylum seekers between EU states.

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“After this European summit, Europe is more responsible and offers more solidarity,” said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “Today Italy is no longer alone.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel came into the summit needing an EU-wide agreement on dealing with asylum seekers to avert a political crisis at home that could bring down her government.

It is unclear whether the measures agreed will be enough, and speaking to reporters at 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT), she acknowledged the EU still had “a lot of work to do to bridge the different views”.

The bloc is deeply divided over the migration issue, with several Central European states rejecting an EU scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees from overcrowded camps in Greece and Italy.

Following the marathon talks, which broke up not long before sunrise, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said that “European co-operation enabled this”.

The 28 EU leaders also agreed to strengthen external border controls, and boost financing for Turkey and countries in North Africa.

So-called “regional disembarkation platforms”, which are aimed at breaking the business model of people-smuggling gangs by processing refugees and migrants outside the EU, will also be “swiftly explored”.

However getting North African countries to host such centres could be very difficult and Morocco again on Thursday rejected the idea.