European leaders promised yesterday to help Chancellor Angela Merkel tackle a crisis in the bloc’s migration policies, offering the weakened German leader vital support before a high-stakes EU summit.
Arriving in Brussels, the leaders of Spain, Greece, Finland and Luxembourg all expressed support for Merkel’s push to curtail “secondary migration” of refugees who arrive at the EU’s southern border before heading to Germany.
Europe’s longest-serving leader has come under acute political pressure from her hardline allies in Bavaria, who are threatening to close their border to migrants if she can’t work out a deal with Germany’s European partners.
That could trigger the collapse of Merkel’s three-monthold government and cause the EU’s control-free Schengen travel zone to unravel.
And Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte threatened to veto an EU summit statement on migration if fellow leaders fail to do more to help Italy cope with migrants.
“It’s a possibility I hope not to consider, but if we reach that point, on my behalf we will not have shared conclusions,” Conte said when asked whether Italy would veto the statement on migration
Spain’s Pedro Sanchez said European solidarity on migration was vital, “especially with Germany, which is now suffering a political crisis”.
Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel said: “There are so many people who arrived in different countries and then made their way to Germany.
“I understand when Germany says ‘Why do we have to deal with everything?’“
Greece’s Alexis Tsipras and Finland’s Juha Sipila also promised to work with Germany.
Earlier, speaking in the German parliament, Merkel called on European leaders to forge a common approach to migration, calling it a “make-orbreak” issue for Europe, where right-wing, anti-immigrant parties are gaining strength.
“Europe faces many challenges, but that of migration could become the make-orbreak one for the EU,” Merkel, whose 2015 decision to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees divided Europe and continues to haunt her at home, said.
“Now as then, I think that was the right thing to do,” she told the Bundestag.
According to draft conclusions circulated before the twoday summit, the leaders will upon agree measures to strengthen Europe’s external borders, spend more on fighting illegal immigration and step up cooperation to prevent refugees and migrants from moving within the bloc.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk said the stakes were high.
“More and more people are starting to believe that only strong-handed authority, antiEuropean and anti-liberal in spirit, with a tendency towards overt authoritarianism, is capable of stopping the wave of illegal migration,” he said.
-Reuters
Merkel backed on migration crisis
EU leaders promise to help find solution to influx
Image: via TimesLIVE
European leaders promised yesterday to help Chancellor Angela Merkel tackle a crisis in the bloc’s migration policies, offering the weakened German leader vital support before a high-stakes EU summit.
Arriving in Brussels, the leaders of Spain, Greece, Finland and Luxembourg all expressed support for Merkel’s push to curtail “secondary migration” of refugees who arrive at the EU’s southern border before heading to Germany.
Europe’s longest-serving leader has come under acute political pressure from her hardline allies in Bavaria, who are threatening to close their border to migrants if she can’t work out a deal with Germany’s European partners.
That could trigger the collapse of Merkel’s three-monthold government and cause the EU’s control-free Schengen travel zone to unravel.
And Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte threatened to veto an EU summit statement on migration if fellow leaders fail to do more to help Italy cope with migrants.
“It’s a possibility I hope not to consider, but if we reach that point, on my behalf we will not have shared conclusions,” Conte said when asked whether Italy would veto the statement on migration
Spain’s Pedro Sanchez said European solidarity on migration was vital, “especially with Germany, which is now suffering a political crisis”.
Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel said: “There are so many people who arrived in different countries and then made their way to Germany.
“I understand when Germany says ‘Why do we have to deal with everything?’“
Greece’s Alexis Tsipras and Finland’s Juha Sipila also promised to work with Germany.
Earlier, speaking in the German parliament, Merkel called on European leaders to forge a common approach to migration, calling it a “make-orbreak” issue for Europe, where right-wing, anti-immigrant parties are gaining strength.
“Europe faces many challenges, but that of migration could become the make-orbreak one for the EU,” Merkel, whose 2015 decision to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees divided Europe and continues to haunt her at home, said.
“Now as then, I think that was the right thing to do,” she told the Bundestag.
According to draft conclusions circulated before the twoday summit, the leaders will upon agree measures to strengthen Europe’s external borders, spend more on fighting illegal immigration and step up cooperation to prevent refugees and migrants from moving within the bloc.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk said the stakes were high.
“More and more people are starting to believe that only strong-handed authority, antiEuropean and anti-liberal in spirit, with a tendency towards overt authoritarianism, is capable of stopping the wave of illegal migration,” he said.
-Reuters
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