Migration to be a key topic at upcoming EU summit

A row over how Europe handles immigration will dominate an EU summit. The issue has already helped populists gain power in Italy and is threatening German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

Rescued migrants sit in the search and rescue ship of German aid group Mission Lifeline as the boat remained stranded off Malta with 234 migrants aboard and no port at which to dock after both Italy and Malta refused to give authorisation, early Monday, June 25, 2018.
AP

Rescued migrants sit in the search and rescue ship of German aid group Mission Lifeline as the boat remained stranded off Malta with 234 migrants aboard and no port at which to dock after both Italy and Malta refused to give authorisation, early Monday, June 25, 2018.

European Union leaders meeting over migration on Thursday and Friday are likely to agree to further tighten their external borders, give more support to Libya and look at creating "disembarkation centres" outside of their territory for people who arrive by sea.

With anti-immigration politicians raising the stakes in EU countries from Germany and Austria to Italy and Hungary, the bloc is seeking more ways to curb Mediterranean arrivals.

The issue has already helped populists gain power in Italy and is threatening German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

TRT World's Ira Spitzer has more from Berlin.

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Arrivals have already dropped to some 44,000 refugees and migrants so far this year from a peak of more than a million in 2015, according to UN data. But the related political crisis is still high inside the EU.

Europe has faced increasing migratory pressure since the NATO-led military intervention in Libya and the start of the Syrian Civil war in 2011 with Greece, Italy and Malta becoming the main entry points to the bloc.

TRT World's Simon McGregor-Wood reports.

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