Daily Times

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she would seek direct deals with separate European Union states on migration, conceding that the bloc was unable to quickly find a joint solution to an issue that is threatening her government.

Since Mediterranean arrivals spiked in 2015, when more than a million refugees and migrants reached the bloc, EU leaders have been at odds over how to handle them, the feud weakening their unity and undermining Europe’s free travel area. Sixteen of the EU’s 28 leaders held talks in Brussels on Sunday, ahead of a summit, the European Council, on June 28-29. “We know that at the European Council, unfortunately, we will not have a complete solution of the migration issue,” Merkel said on arriving at the meeting.

Merkel is under pressure to find a solution by the summit, because her coalition partner is pushing for a sharper course in migration policy that could ultimately lead to a collapse of her government. Unable to wait for full EU consensus, Merkel said she would go for faster measures.

“That is why there will be bilateral and trilateral agreements, how can we help each other – not always wait for all 28 members but think about what is important to whom,” she said.

French President Emmanuel Macron seemed to offer Merkel his cautious backing, saying while the solution to migration should be “European”, it could be built through the cooperation of all EU members or just several deciding to go together.

U.N. data shows only some 41,000 people have made it to the EU across the sea this year but opinion polls show migration is the top concern for the EU’s 500 million citizens.

Italy has long struggled to cope with arrivals and its new populist government rejects any ideas that would see it handle even more people. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said EU rules that the first EU country of arrival is responsible for migrants should be dropped. This would greatly reduce the pressure on Italy.

He also called for other EU countries to accept their share of economic migrants entering the bloc, or get less EU money, reviving an idea that has already been rejected by mostly central European countries in the past.

Published in Daily Times, June 25^th 2018.