Summary of the day
European justice and home affairs ministers met in Brussels amid growing pressure for the bloc to agree on a new migration and asylum pact.
The German government shifted its position on a long-disputed migration crisis regulation, with the German interior minister, Nancy Faesser, saying she expected a breakthrough.
Italy, however, appeared to block a deal.
Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said after the ministers’ session that there was a very broad majority of member states in favour of a compromise but that some details still needed to be fine-tuned and that he hoped an agreement could be announced in the coming days.
Margaritis Schinas, a vice-president of the European Commission, cautioned: “We need to deprive the demagogues and populists from the argument that Europe cannot sort out our migration problem.”
The International Rescue Committee warned that new migration rules could set policy on the wrong track.
Updated
EU ministers failed to reach an agreement today on new migration rules but are still expected to finalise a compromise in the coming days.
Ministers said they expected that “fine tuning” would lead to a deal on new rules that would apply in the event of a sudden refugee crisis such as that in 2015 when more than 1 million people arrived from Syria and beyond.
The interior ministers’ discussion comes amid a surge in irregular migration from Tunisia to Italy but also increases to the Greek islands Samos and Lesbos, the EU said.
“So far this year, we have received more than 250,000 irregular arrivals to the EU. The main increase is towards Italy and mainly Lampedusa which is really under pressure,” said Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs.
But she added that the EU had at the same time a backlog of 600,000 asylum applications.
“That shows our challenge is much bigger than the prevention of irregular arrivals,” she said.
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