Migrant crisis: EU leaders to meet amid

quota tension
BBC News
EU leaders are set to meet in Brussels amid continuing tension
among members over a deal to relocate 120,000 migrants across
the continent.
Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary opposed a mandatory
quota scheme that was approved on Tuesday.
British Prime Minster David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande
held talks on the eve of the meeting, saying that finding a solution to the
Syrian conflict would be key to resolving the migrant crisis.
They also agreed more should be done to return migrants who do not have a
genuine claim for asylum, a Downing Street spokesman said.
European Council President Donald Tusk has told EU leaders that this
summit should focus on policies they can implement to help each other,
rather than a long list of issues to use to blame each other.
It is both an appeal for practical progress, and an acknowledgement that the
political atmosphere has become pretty toxic.
Several leaders will arrive in Brussels angry that their governments have
been outvoted on the issue of relocating tens of thousands of refugees. But
Mr Tusk will be keen to avoid recrimination.
Instead he wants to focus on improving the security of the EU's external
borders, and ensuring that failed asylum seekers get sent home more
efficiently.
Most of all though there will be emphasis on increasing funding for UN
agencies that deal with refugees in countries bordering Syria, and on closer
cooperation with, and more assistance for, Turkey. It is housing more than
2m Syrian refugees, and has become the main gateway into Europe.
'Diktat'
In a rare move for an issue involving national sovereignty, EU interior
ministers approved the resettlement scheme on Tuesday by majority vote
rather than unanimous approval.
EU Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos denied
this was harmful to the EU, saying as he arrived for the leaders' summit on

Wednesday: "On the contrary, it is a victory for the EU and for all member
states."
The deal will see thousands of migrants moved from Italy and Greece to
other EU countries. A proposal to take 54,000 migrants from Hungary was
dropped.

Finland abstained from the vote. Poland, which had originally opposed the
proposal, voted for it.
But its opponents have lashed out. On Wednesday, Slovakia announced a
legal challenge.
Prime Minister Robert Fico said: "We will go in two directions: first one, we
will file a charge at the [European Court of Justice] in Luxembourg...
secondly, we will not implement the [decision] of the interior ministers."
He described the deal as a "diktat" of the majority.
Czech President Milos Zeman said on Tuesday that "only the future will show
what a mistake this was".
However, Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka said on Wednesday it would not
launch a court challenge, adding: "Europe must not fall apart on the
migration crisis."
Romania said it could manage its allocation but President Klaus Iohannis
insisted mandatory quotas were not the answer.
But Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who chaired the meeting,
said he had "no doubt" opposing countries would implement the measures.
EU governments could face financial penalties for failing to implement
European laws.
The UN has warned that the relocation alone would not be enough to
stabilise the situation.
Close to 480,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea this year, and are
now reaching European shores at a rate of nearly 6,000 a day.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all
people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming
asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria,
who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are
seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are
economic migrants.