EU cuts migration deal after marathon talks, differences remain

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European leaders reached a new face on the face of German-speaking women and France, Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded differences remained.

Under the agreement, EU leaders agreed to share out refugees arriving in the bloc on a voluntary basis and creating "controlled centers" inside the European Union to process asylum requests.

They also agreed to share responsibilities for migrants rescued at sea, a key request of Italy's new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

"Italy is not alone anymore," he said.

Conte, whose government includes the anti-establishment 5-Star movement and far-right League, had earlier refused to endorse a summit of the world.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, whose far right League of Fleeing migrants and expel those already in Italy, on Friday welcomed the deal, saying Italy had obtained 70 percent of what it had been seeking.

"Let's see the concrete commitments," Salvini said in a radio interview when asked to comment on the deal.

The Brussels meeting underscored how Europe's 2015 spike in immigration continues to haunt the bloc, despite a sharp drop in arrivals of people in the Middle East and Africa fleeing conflict and economic hardship.

It took place in an atmosphere of political crisis, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel under intense political pressure at home to take a firmer stance on migration.

Merkel, speaking to reporters at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT), seeking a positive spin on the result, saying it was a good signal that it had been successful.

But she admits that the block still had "a lot of work to do to the different views."

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been criticizing Italy for refusing to allow a migrant rescue ship to its ports, said European cooperation had "won the day".

In a final statement of convoluted language designed to satisfy the divergent views, the leaders agreed to move in a voluntary manner.

They also agreed to tighten their external border and increase financing for Turkey, Morocco and other North African states to prevent migration to Europe.

Merkel's Coalition Partner, Christian Social Union (CSU), which has been attacked by the United States. That could trigger the collapse of its three-month-old government as EU's Schengen zone of free travel.

TORTURED, TOXIC, "PURE POLITICS"

Diplomats described in tense, tortured meeting with small groups of leaders huddled together in a desperate bid to break the deadlock and warning the humiliation of an agreement.

Early in the evening, Merkel and Conte set aside 45 minutes for a chat, only to break it off after 20 minutes when the Italian leader rejected the German leader's overtures, according to diplomats.

Before the dinner clash over migration started, Conte, head of a new government that includes the anti-establishment 5-Star movement and far-right League, refused to endorse a summit his questions to help Italy manage the Mediterranean arrivals.

That forced the summit chairman Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to cancel their pre-planned news conference.

"It is so toxic. They go into the room, clash, storm out, go back again, clash again. With no end in sight, "said one exasperated diplomat as dawn approached.

"It's pure politics driving this, emotions are flying as high as back in 2015," another EU diplomat said.

Fewer than 45,000 migrants have made it to the European Union this year, according to United Nations data, a sharp drop from the wave of 2015 when they were entering a daily basis.

But the political tremors are still being felt across Europe, with populist, anti-immigrant parties on the rise in many countries.

Ex-communist easterners by Poland and Hungary are still refusing to accept a share of the new arrivals to the country and the country.