European Union Leaders Seek Ways to Halt Migrants

[Postmaster]

BOOK INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS TICKETS LOCAL FLIGHTS HOTELS BOOKINGS WORLDWIDE AND MORE AT CHEAPEST RATE EVER! CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR FLIGHT AND RECEIVE YOUR FLIGHT TICKET INSTANTLY

Loading...

European Union leaders were gathering Thursday to examine new ways to stop migrants entering Europe, desperate to ensure that their differences over managing the flows do not tear the 28-nation bloc apart.

The number of people arriving in Europe seeking sanctuary or better lives has dropped significantly, but anti-migrant parties have consolidated their powers, winning votes as they exploit fear of foreigners.

The political crisis caused by the EU's inability to share responsibility for those entering is undermining German Chancellor Angela Merkel's leadership. It's also helped bring an anti-European government to power in Italy.

Italy, the main landing point for migrants along with Greece, has begun to refuse entry to ships carrying people rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. The EU's smallest member state, the island of Malta, is also resisting appeals to do more. France has been involved, criticizing Rome in a major diplomatic row.

“Europe has many challenges, but that of migration could determine the fate of the European Union,” Merkel told German lawmakers Thursday before heading for a two-day summit in Brussels.

Merkel is fighting a battle at home and abroad against critics who accuse her of endangering European security with her welcoming approach to migrants. Her conservative coalition is under pressure from the far-right Alternative for Germany.

The party has received a surge in support since 2015 - when well over one million people entered Europe, mostly fleeing conflicts in Syria and Iraq - and populist leaders in southern and eastern Europe have rejected her calls for a wholesale reform of Europe's migration system.

With Merkel's coalition allies demanding that migrants be turned away at the border with Austria, EU officials fear any such move would set off a domino effect. Austria in turn could close its border with Italy, and Rome might then close its ports.