EU leaders seek unity on refugee plans
Updated: 2015-09-24 08:23
(Agencies)
|
|||||||||
BRUSSELS - European Union leaders concluded a summit early on Thursday that was expected to back offers of new aid for Syrian refugees and also patch up bitter divisions over the migration crisis.
Leaders will announce results of the discussions shortly.
Meeting a day after their interior ministers overrode furious objections from four eastern states in a vote that will distribute asylum-seekers around the bloc according to mandatory national quotas, government leaders tried to focus on ways to curb the inflow of migrants that has hit records this summer.
Feelings have been running high as chaotic crowds and varied responses from national capitals have seen borders close inside Europe's cherished passport-free Schengen zone. Many leaders are under pressure to shore up their domestic support by stressing their defence of their own national interests.
"Today ... a concrete plan must finally appear in place of the arguments and the chaos we have witnessed in the last weeks," said European Council President Donald Tusk before he chaired the 28 leaders' first full EU summit in three months.
Starting shortly before dinner on Wednesday, they talked for nearly seven hours in what some diplomats said was a relatively cordial atmosphere considering recent tensions.
"Really good talks ... today," tweeted Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas. "Some developments at early stage but EU united to find a common European solution."
On a day when the Greek island of Lesbos saw 2,500 people land in dozens of dinghies from Turkey, Tusk said arrivals that already exceed half a million this year were likely to increase and that Europe must "regain control of our external borders" or risk destroying the Schengen system and the "European spirit".
He forecast agreement on more help for refugees who stay in the Middle East, via funds for UN agencies, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and others. "Frontline" states like Greece and Italy should also get help on their frontiers - notably to register new arrivals and deport those who do not qualify for asylum.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, accused by some of her neighbours of fuelling the migrant influx by announcing last month that Germany would take in more Syrians, stressed on arrival that it was time for Europeans to work together.
"Faced with a great challenge, it cannot be that Europe says 'We can't handle this'," Merkel said.
"That's why I say again and again: We can do this."
- EU backs refugee plan in teeth of east European opposition
- EU home affairs ministers gather to seek refugee relocation deal
- Refugee crisis to test EU at summit of divided leaders
- Solutions elusive in Syrian refugee crisis
- Bungling of refugee crisis gives Europe a major headache
- Murray serving refugee aid
- Another corruption suspect repatriated from US to China
- Shanghai slaps three-year ban on entertainers caught doing drugs
- 37 students critical after botched fire drill in NW China
- Man writes Chinese calligraphy using kitchenware
- Brilliant Autumn Urumqi feasting many eyes
- Kids serve as traffic police in C China
- Colombia, FARC reach breakthrough agreement in Havana
- White House preparing for government shutdown
- EU leaders seek unity on refugee plans
- EU pushes through plan to relocate 120,000 refugees amid oppositions
- China, Malaysia conclude first joint military exercise
- Hillary Clinton opposes controversial oil pipeline
- Xi visits assembly line of plane manufacturer Boeing in US
- First Lady tours Fred Hutchson Cancer Research Center
- Boeing to sell 300 planes to China
- Sino-US ties need more understanding: Xi
- Xi calls for closer cooperation with Washington state
- Special: President Xi visits the US, attends UN summits
- How Chinese tourists and students contribute to the US economy
- Fun stuff you can't miss about China-US exchanges
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
8 highlights about V-day Parade |
Glimpses of Tibet: Plateaus, people and faith |
Chinese entrepreneurs remain optimistic despite economic downfall |
50th anniversary of Tibet autonomous region |
Tianjin explosions: Deaths, destruction and bravery |
Cinemas enjoy strong first half |
Today's Top News
Young people from US look forward to Xi's state visit: Survey
US to accept more refugees than planned
Li calls on State-owned firms to tap more global markets
Apple's iOS App Store suffers first major attack
Japan enacts new security laws to overturn postwar pacifism
Court catalogs schools' violent crimes
'Beauty of Beijing's alleys akin to a wise, old person'
China makes progress fighting domestic, international cyber crime
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |