Migrant Crisis: EU leaders split over new agreement on migrants

Why is the lifeboat of the Aquarius migrants empty?

EU President Donald Tusk cautiously welcomed a new agreement on migration, concluded after nocturnal talks at a summit in Brussels

But he told reporters that he was "way too early to talk about success" and said it was easy to reach an agreement "compared to what is waiting for us on the ground"

. Security centers for migrants can be created in the EU states to process asylum applications.

Economic migrants whose applications are rejected will be "dismissed".

People judged as true refugees, however, will be resettled. President Emmanuel Macron quickly praised the agreement, calling it a "choice of cooperation" that would help manage the influx of migrants into Europe.

Other leaders were more circumspect – including German Chancellor Angela Merkel not in the right direction "but says

The agreement is considered a lifeline for Merkel, who has faced to a political crisis in the country with the possibility of bringing down its government

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, of his Bavarian coalition partner CSU, warned the Chancellor that unless 39, get an agreement to dismiss many asylum seekers, he would start to refuse the migrants already registered elsewhere 19659014] Getty Images

Spain and Greece have now agreed to take back migrants who were registered in their country but who have traveled to Germany, confirmed Friday the German government.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte quickly moved away from this stance, claiming that Italy would not bring back any migrants from Germany and that he "did not" signed no specific agreement "on the question

. The rare step of blocking the conclusions of the joint communiqué until the leaders have settled the issue of migration.

He took a positive note at the end of the two-day rally: "After this European summit, Europe is more responsible and offers more solidarity: today, Italy is not Is no longer alone. "

    

            
            

Migratory Crisis: The EU's Borders Explained by Frontex

That's agreed on other?

The 28 European leaders also agreed on several other measures:

• Strengthening external border controls, and boosting funding for Turkey and North African countries.
• Explore the possibility of "regional landing platforms" aimed at breaking the business model of smuggling gangs by treating refugees and migrants outside the EU. However, the fact that North African countries could host such centers could be very difficult and Morocco rejected the idea again Thursday.
• Internal measures taken by member states to prevent migrants from migrating within the EU
• More investment in Africa to help the continent achieve a "substantial socio-economic transformation" in order to that people do not leave for a better life.
• Continued work on EU asylum policy reform, including the Dublin Regulation that migrants should be considered as asylum seekers in the first safe country where they arrive

Where will the migrant centers be built?

Paris and Rome have already clashed on this issue.

Controlled centers need to be created by EU states on a voluntary basis, but there are no details about which nations could host them or host refugees.

million. Macron said the centers would be in countries where migrants initially arrive in the EU and declare that France would not have them because it is not a country of first arrival.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz expressed the same opinion stating that "we are not a country of arrival"

Italy – which is the point of entry of thousands of migrants, mainly from Africa, and who wants other countries to share its burden – rejected this interpretation.

Mr. Conte told reporters: "Macron was tired, I deny what is wrong. he said. "

He said that all EU states would be able to establish centers," including France "

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According to the European Council, the number of people illegally entering the EU has dropped 96% since its peak of 2015.

About 56,000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year, according to the report. International Organization for Migration, against more than one million in 2015.

However, several Central European countries have so far rejected a European program to relocate 160,000 migrants. refugees from overcrowded camps in Greece and Italy, which has created tensions – and recent attacks on the fate of migrants rescued at sea have exacerbated the problem.

Analysis: Is the crisis resolved? Unlikely

By Katya Adler, editor in Europe, BBC News, Brussels

Is the migrant crisis in Europe now resolved? In a word, no. On two fronts. First, prevent illegal migration and save migrant lives.

Take, for example, treatment centers that operate inside and outside the EU. The idea is to put economic migrants in Europe because they know that only those who have the legal right to asylum or refugee status can stay. But these treatment centers are voluntary. We do not know where and when (or if) they will be operational – and in the meantime, migrants will continue to make this perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

The second failure is more than half a failure, and it's a policy. Let's face it – with the sharp drop in arrivals in Europe, tensions and tensions between EU countries are clearly political. The fact that leaders like Germany's Angela Merkel leave this summit saying that a "significant step forward has been made" is a clue that, in the true style of the EU summit, the cracks of the problems were covered.

East and West United Now on a Common Migration and Asylum Policy Going Forward? Absolutely not.

How did humanitarian organizations respond?

NGOs vehemently condemned the agreement, saying it betrays vulnerable people and those who try to prevent them from dying in the Mediterranean.

"The only thing European states seem to have accepted is to block people at the gates of Europe, regardless of their vulnerability or the horrors they are fleeing, and to demonize search operations and non-governmental rescue ". The chief of emergencies, Karline Kleijer, said on Friday

that nearly 100 people were reported to be drowned off the Libyan coast, 14 of whom were saved.

They were found in waters east of Tripoli. 19659004] Italian Minister of the Interior Anti-Immigration, Matteo Salvini, has already criticized Friday rescue boats run by international NGOs and said Friday "that they help traffickers, consciously or not." "he said on Italian radio." The harbors will be closed all summer. "

EU President Donald Tusk also made harsh remarks about NGO ships, stating: "We have sent a clear message to all ships, including those in the Mediterranean, that they must respect the law and not hinder the operation of the Libyan Coast Guard."