European leaders battle over divergent views on migration at tense summit
Brussels — European leaders struggled to overcome deep divisions on migration at a tense EU summit that dragged into the early morning hours of Friday before yielding vague pledges to strengthen external borders and explore new migrant centres. The meeting in Brussels, dominated by a nine-hour dinner, underscored how Europe’s 2015 spike in immigration continues to haunt the bloc despite a sharp drop in arrivals of people fleeing conflict and economic hardship in the Middle East and Africa. It took place in an atmosphere of political crisis, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel under intense political pressure at home and a new eurosceptic Italian government threatening to torpedo any deal that did not meet its demands. A bleary-eyed Merkel, speaking to reporters at 5am local time, tried to put a positive spin on the result, saying it was a good signal that leaders had been able to agree a common text on the controversial migration issue. But she acknowledged that the bloc still had ...
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