European Union leaders could promise billions of euros in new funding
for Syrian refugees at an emergency summit on Wednesday where they will
also try to patch up bitter divisions over the migration crisis.
Meeting for dinner a day after 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 will try to focus on ways to curb the inflow of
refugees that has hit records this summer.
But feelings are running high as chaotic crowds and varied responses
from national capitals have seen borders close inside Europe’s cherished
passport-free Schengen zone and diplomats expect “theatrics” from some
of the 28 leaders as each seeks to shore up domestic support in the face
of fears of immigration.
“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, who will chair the 28 leaders’ first full
EU summit in three months.
On a day when the Greek island of Lesbos saw 2,500 people land in dozens
of dinghies from Turkey, Mr. 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”.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels before the summit starts at 6 p.m., he
forecast an agreement for more help for refugees who stay in West Asia,
via funds for UN agencies, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and others.
“Frontline” states like Greece and Italy should also get help on their
frontiers.
Around the Council table, German Chancellor Angela Merkel may face
criticism of her move last month to take in more Syrians, an action some
of her eastern neighbours say fuelled the inflow. Even Tusk, a former
Polish premier, said without naming Merkel that most refugees “feel
invited to Europe”.
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