BBC Online :
EU leaders divided over a quota scheme for housing migrants, as they gather for a summit in Brussels.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk irritated an EU commissioner and some other officials by calling mandatory quotas “ineffective” and “highly divisive”.
His European Council agenda calls for an EU deal by June to ease the burden on Mediterranean countries facing the greatest migrant pressure.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged EU “solidarity” to resolve the problem.
She said the current asylum system was not working, and “that is why we need internal solidarity”.
She drew much criticism in Germany for welcoming more than a million asylum seekers during Europe’s 2015-2016 migrant crisis.
Poland and three neighbours in Central Europe reject the EU’s asylum policy.
The European Commission is suing Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic at the European Court of Justice for refusing to accept asylum seekers under the EU quota system.
Slovakia is the fourth member of the Visegrad Group, which collectively opposes quotas.
Mr Tusk, arriving at the summit, said the EU was divided “between east and west” over migration.
“These divisions are compounded by emotions which make it hard to find common language and rational argument. This is why we should work on our unity even more extensively and effectively.”
The pre-summit agenda sent to leaders by Mr Tusk – a former Polish prime minister – appeared to back the Visegrad Group. They argue that they are ill-equipped to integrate people from non-Christian cultures who would rather live in richer EU countries anyway.
“The issue of mandatory quotas has proven to be highly divisive and the approach has received disproportionate attention in light of its impact on the ground; in this sense it has turned out to be ineffective,” the agenda said.
The European Commission devised a mandatory scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees – Syrians and Eritreans – from Italy and Greece to other EU countries. But so far only about 32,000 refugees have been transferred.
The Commission’s migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos, called Mr Tusk’s position “unacceptable” and “anti-European”.
EU leaders divided over a quota scheme for housing migrants, as they gather for a summit in Brussels.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk irritated an EU commissioner and some other officials by calling mandatory quotas “ineffective” and “highly divisive”.
His European Council agenda calls for an EU deal by June to ease the burden on Mediterranean countries facing the greatest migrant pressure.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged EU “solidarity” to resolve the problem.
She said the current asylum system was not working, and “that is why we need internal solidarity”.
She drew much criticism in Germany for welcoming more than a million asylum seekers during Europe’s 2015-2016 migrant crisis.
Poland and three neighbours in Central Europe reject the EU’s asylum policy.
The European Commission is suing Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic at the European Court of Justice for refusing to accept asylum seekers under the EU quota system.
Slovakia is the fourth member of the Visegrad Group, which collectively opposes quotas.
Mr Tusk, arriving at the summit, said the EU was divided “between east and west” over migration.
“These divisions are compounded by emotions which make it hard to find common language and rational argument. This is why we should work on our unity even more extensively and effectively.”
The pre-summit agenda sent to leaders by Mr Tusk – a former Polish prime minister – appeared to back the Visegrad Group. They argue that they are ill-equipped to integrate people from non-Christian cultures who would rather live in richer EU countries anyway.
“The issue of mandatory quotas has proven to be highly divisive and the approach has received disproportionate attention in light of its impact on the ground; in this sense it has turned out to be ineffective,” the agenda said.
The European Commission devised a mandatory scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees – Syrians and Eritreans – from Italy and Greece to other EU countries. But so far only about 32,000 refugees have been transferred.
The Commission’s migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos, called Mr Tusk’s position “unacceptable” and “anti-European”.
