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Discord Over Migrant Ships Deepens European Divide

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Disagreement about how to handle migrants is causing deep strains between Europe’s capitals

Migrants, part of a group intercepted aboard a dinghy off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea, stand on a rescue boat upon arrival at the port of Malaga, Spain last week.
Migrants, part of a group intercepted aboard a dinghy off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea, stand on a rescue boat upon arrival at the port of Malaga, Spain last week. PHOTO: JON NAZCA/REUTERS

BRUSSELS—European Union leaders on Sunday failed to bridge disagreements over the bloc’s politically toxic migration issue, a long-unresolved conundrum now threatening to topple the EU’s most powerful leader, Germany’s Angela Merkel.

Discord over how to deal with incoming ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea as well as which countries should be responsible for migrants already in the bloc is once again causing deep strains between EU capitals, three years after a million people, mostly fleeing the war in Syria, came to Europe, partly encouraged by Ms. Merkel’s open-door policy.

Now under pressure at home, Ms. Merkel is seeking European backing for turning some migrants away. But that has pitted Germany against Italy’s new nationalist, anti-immigration government and renewed tension with some Eastern European countries who refuse to take in refugees.

Speaking on her way into the Sunday meeting, Ms. Merkel said she was aware that “unfortunately we won’t get a comprehensive solution to the migration problem,” and instead was seeking “bi- or trilateral agreements that are mutually beneficial, on how we can help one another without having to wait for all 28.”

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte came to Brussels with a 10-point plan that includes scrapping the EU rule that puts the onus on countries where migrants first set foot on to be responsible for their housing, integration or deportation. His plan wants to establish a “joint responsibility between member states on shipwrecks at sea. The rescue obligation cannot become an obligation to process asylum requests on everyone’s behalf.”

Mr. Conte wanted France to open its ports to ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean, according to an official familiar with the discussions. Three ships, including a Maersk cargo ship which rescued over 100 migrants off the Italian coast, in recent days have been denied access to Italian ports. One ship was eventually taken in by Spain, while the destination of the other two is still unclear.

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected the Italian proposals and said his country “won’t take lessons from anyone,” as it has had the second-highest number of decisions in 2017, after Germany. But that same year, Italy received more asylum applications than France, according to Eurostat, the bloc’s statistics office.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia declared they won’t come to Sunday’s meeting, saying the EU proposals were “unacceptable.”

Sunday’s meeting was meant to prepare decisions among all 28 EU leaders on migration next week at the bloc’s regular quarterly summit. Expectations are low that after three years of failed efforts to reform the bloc’s migration laws, leaders can provide more than a quick fix, at best, to their differences.

Sunday’s meeting, which included 16 out of EU’s 28 leaders, was called by Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission. The bloc’s executive branch is in charge of drafting policies and funding the bloc’s border and asylum agencies.

Mr. Juncker was in Berlin earlier this week and offered to host the meeting in an attempt to help Ms. Merkel after she narrowly avoided the collapse of her government. The German chancellor had rejected a plan by her coalition partner to start returning migrants at the German-Austrian border and was given a two-week deadline to find a European solution.

Austria, sandwiched between Germany and Italy, said such a unilateral move would force it to start sending asylum seekers back to Italy.

Officials involved in discussions ahead of the Sunday meeting had hoped to convince Italy to take back migrants from Austria and Germany, replicating an existing arrangement it has with France, which routinely turns back migrants to Italy.

The European Commission, in an attempt to alleviate Italian concerns about a steady flow of boats from Libya, said it was considering so-called “disembarkation platforms” in North African countries, meaning creating safe areas to where migrants rescued at sea could be sent back. Most migrants who arrived in Europe last year and in the first half of this year crossed the Mediterranean from Libya or were rescued at sea and brought to Italy.

The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration criticized the idea and said they would only cooperate with the commission on setting up migrant camps on EU soil.

“You have an obligation not to send people back until they land somewhere,” said Eugenio Ambrosi, director of IOM’s regional EU office.

Mr. Macron also said Saturday that Europe shouldn’t outsource its asylum process to north Africa, but rather set up closed migrant centers on EU soil with enough experts to quickly assess who has the right to stay.

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of the anti-immigrant League party, responded that “if French arrogance thinks it can transform Italy into Europe’s refugee camp, maybe handing out a few euros as a tip, then they’ve got it totally wrong.”

Write to Valentina Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com


Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/discord-over-migrant-crisis-deepens-ahead-of-eu-meeting-1529833013

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