Papering over cracks

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders on Friday, claiming success in reaching a hard-fought deal with immigration.

Irregular migration has fallen steeply since 2015, when more than a million people entered the EU, but polls show it is still a top concern of the EU's 500 million citizens.

(Migration and asylum in the EU: tmsnrt.rs/2txGJM3)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy's new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte , and east European leaders are bitterly opposed to taking them in.

The summit of all 28 EU leaders in the air, they're in the opposite direction, they're going to break up, and they're going broke.

They agreed to tighten further the EU's external borders and spend more money on projects in Africa. The purpose of their joint statement was highly convoluted – a result of their diverging priorities.

"Europe decided, even if it takes her time. Europe wants to protect its citizens but also wants to live up to its laws and its history and the protection of the most vulnerable, "said French President Emmanuel Macron, who has helped seal the deal after nine hours of talks.

Merkel has been seeking breathing space in a showdown with her coalition partner, the Bavaria-based Christian Social Union (CSU), who asks for control on immigration.

She called the summit agreement "right step in the right direction".

"What was it that we had expected," the EU's longest-serving leader told reporters.

Conte, who demands that other States with migrants, hijacked the summit for several hours. He said later he had not promised Merkel Italy would take back people who have reached Germany after passing through Italy.

Such "secondary migration" is unstoppable within Europe's zone of control-free travel.

"EASIEST PART"

Conte stormed his first-ever EU summit with an initial threat to block and all agreements from the convention – which also touched on trade, security, Brexit and euro zone reform.

That forced the all-night negotiations and won praise from his hardline interior minister in Rome, Matteo Salvini.

Eventually, Conte la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la langue de la traduction. Merkel won wording on the subject of Berlin.

The chairman of EU summits since 2014, Donald Tusk, said it was one of the most difficult rounds of talks of his career.

"It is far too early to talk about a success. We have managed to reach an agreement, "Tusk told a news conference. "But this is in fact the easiest part of the task, when we start implementing it."

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite admitted it was "a success" that the countries did not fall out with each other completely, while Spain's new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it was "not the best agreement … but it was an agreement".

Their two countries represent two rival sides of the row. The coastal states on the Mediterranean.

The former communist states in the United States – led by Poland and Hungary – have mostly refused to host any migrants. That upsets wealthy destination countries like Germany as well as the southern countries.

The summit would be welcome, a welcome breakthrough for the easterners. Some diplomats said the compromise made contradictory and weak.

The EU offered more money for Syrian refugees in Turkey and the EU agreed to seek a broad migration deal with Morocco. A 2016 one with Ankara cut off to Greece.

DO NOT CALL THEM CAMPS

United Nations data shows only about 45,000 people have reached the EU by the sea so far this year, as the bloc has grown up more restrictive.

At the summit, EU leaders in the Mediterranean – both inside and outside the EU – to handle asylum claims.

Such officials would not amount to "camps".

Oxfam, which said EU leaders "respond to internal rows by reducing the space for asylum seekers" and "offload their responsibilities to countries outside the EU".

To notify such criticism, the United States wants the U.N. agencies for refugees and migration to such sites.

It was a sign of the depth of the EU's divisions over migration that the crisis in Brexit negotiations came out of the summit agenda.

Leaders of the other 27 EU countries were united in stepping up the pressure on British Prime Minister Theresa May to overcome rifts in her government and move forward with all-but-stalled talks. There are only nine months to go before Britain leaves the EU.

"This is the last call to lay the cards on the table," chairman Donald Tusk told reporters.

The Bloc's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, repeated his warning that "time is short".

In other summit business, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he would visit Washington at the end of July in a bid to ease trade tensions after EU leaders pledged to react firmly against protectionism.

They also agreed on the ESM bailout fund should play a larger role in a more integrated euro area, but it is also important to consider this issue as a future issue.

Deeper euro zone integration has been championed by Macron since its election last year, but has run into opposition from Germany and its allies, wary of sharing more responsibility with other governments.