An emergency mini summit Sunday of EU leaders seeking a common solution on migration yielded a breakthrough, of sorts: a general agreement to stop seeking an overall, common solution.
It was not exactly a failure, with leaders hailing new momentum in addressing the bloc’s most divisive political problem, and a commitment to continue their discussion at a regular EU summit later this week.
After Sunday’s meeting there appeared to be consensus, at least among most of the 16 leaders who attended, that the challenges would be better tackled with partnerships among willing nations, rather than waiting for unanimity among all 28. That suggested a watershed realisation: At times the best way to preserve EU unity may be to forego seeking EU unity.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she would seek direct deals with separate European Union states on migration, conceding the bloc had failed to find a joint solution to the issue threatening her government.
Sunday’s meeting was called by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is facing a backlash within her own coalition.
”Wherever possible we want European solutions,” Merkel said. ”Where this is not possible we want to bring together those who are willing and find a common framework for action.”
The Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he was pleased with the outcome. ‘’We are definitely satisfied in Rome,’’ he said in a tweet. ‘’We have steered the debate in the right direction.’’
Plans to set up migrant reception centers in Albania are also under discussion. The leaders of several more countries joined Italy and France in endorsing the idea of setting up centers in Africa to screen potential asylum-seekers for eligibility before they set out for another continent.
Encouraged by a deal with Turkey that has slashed the number of people arriving from there by 97 percent since 2015, the EU appeared ready to greenlight plans to set up screening centers in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia.
Macron said “the method that we are going to adopt” would involve “working together vis-a-vis the countries of transit and origin outside the European Union.” He mentioned Libya the main jumping off point for countries bound for Europe other African countries and the Balkans. Noting that migrant arrivals have dropped significantly, Macron said: “it’s a political crisis that Europe and the European Union is mostly living today.”
In initial reactions to the summit, the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel said progress was possible when the subject is taken up against in a formal summit on Thursday.
“The meeting was better than expected; there was some progress achieved. I do believe all of us spoke our minds in a very clear manner [and] I do hope it has served the purpose of understanding each other better for next week,” The Times reported “Actually, it is not about high-level declarations. I am totally against going in the direction of high-level declarations. What we need is operational action. “What I heard today, what we converged on today is a signal that there is probably a willingness to go for some operational changes,” he added. There are people at sea right now. If we do not take decisions in the coming days the situation will escalate.
Reports based on Politico, Times of Malta, The Malta Independent, European Commission, France 24, Ansa, TgCom and Euronews
