The Latest: Italy Holds Up EU Action With Migration Demands
VALLETTA, MALTA (AP) — The Latest on the influx of migrants in Europe (all times local): 8:25 p.m. European Union officials say Italy is holding up approval of some decisions at a summit of national leaders until agreement is reached on an overall deal for migration and other issues under discussion.
A news conference to provide updates from the summit Thursday was canceled. An official statement said EU leaders Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker instead would brief reporters at the end of the two-day summit because "one member reserved their position on the entire conclusions."
EU officials say the country in question is Italy. The new Italian government wants other EU nations to commit to sharing the load Italy carries as the landing point for migrants coming over from North Africa.
5:40 p.m.
Poland's prime minister says he's pleased that other European countries are coming around to Polish calls to better defend the EU's external borders against migrants.
At an EU summit Thursday, Mateusz Morawiecki also said Poland would stick to its refusal to accept refugees as part of a migrant relocation program.
He told reporters: "I am glad that the European discussion is slowly moving in the direction in which we have always emphasized that it should be, namely more actions on the external borders of the EU."
He also reiterated his belief that more should be done to keep people from leaving their homes in the first place.
5:30 p.m.
Morocco's director of migration and border surveillance says that his country is experiencing new pressures by migrants trying to get to Europe with the growing clampdown on the Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy.
Khalid Zerouali said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that Morocco isn't interested in hosting a station for migrants to determine who is eligible for asylum in Europe. The plan to set up screening stations in some African countries is being discussed at Thursday's EU summit in Brussels as one way to tamp down numbers of arriving migrants.
Zerouali said "that's not the solution."
Migrants use the North African kingdom of Morocco as a jump-off point to Spain. The border chief said that so far this year some 25,000 migrants have been stopped.
5:15 p.m.
An Italian artist in the traditionally right-wing, League-voting region of Veneto has used a tractor to create art on his fields that echo the government's hard-line position on migrants, as an EU summit meets on the issue.
Dario Gambarin inscribed his fields near Verona with the words "Defend Europe" as European leaders gather Thursday in Brussels. He put a peace sign for the "o'' and included the image of a boat on waves.
Gambarin says he backed Italy's position of doing away with the Dublin accords, which require the countries where migrants first arrive to process asylum requests. He said: "Let's remember that who disembarks in Italy, disembarks in Europe."
4:10 p.m.
Humanitarian groups say migrants rescued off the coast of Libya shouldn't be taken back to the North African country because they could face mistreatment there.
Johannes Bayer, a representatives of the German group Sea-Watch, said Thursday that "there needs to be a European solution" for the migrants picked up at sea.
Marie Naass of the group Lifeline told reporters in Berlin that its crews are regularly told by migrants that they've been tortured, raped or subjected to slavery in war-torn Libya.
The group's ship picked up 216 men, 14 women and 4 children off Libya last week despite instructions from Italy not to do so because the migrants were Libya's responsibility.
A European Union-funded program, called 'Aurora,' aims for Libya to establish a fully functioning maritime rescue coordination center by 2020.
3:45 p.m.
Aid groups and opposition lawmakers say the German government lacks compassion and doesn't understand international law, after a migrant recue in the Mediterranean sparked criticism from officials.
Michel Brandt, a Left party lawmaker, accused Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Thursday of trying to criminalize humanitarian work.
Seehofer reportedly called for the ship Lifeline, which rescued 234 people off Libya last week despite instructions not to do so, to be impounded and its crew prosecuted.
A representative of Lifeline, Marie Naas, said humanitarian groups were "being made the scapegoats" for European governments' failed policies.
She told reporters in Berlin the "only reason we exist is because states aren't meeting their responsibility" to rescue people at sea.
Naas also slammed Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for describing the migrants aboard Lifeline as "human meat."
3:35 p.m.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says he's hopeful that the European Union summit starting Thursday could launch a "turnaround in migration policy."
Kurz said that "being rescued in the Mediterranean must not automatically become a ticket to central Europe."
Kurz became chancellor in December after campaigning to restrict migration, and his country takes over the EU's rotating presidency for six months starting Sunday.
Kurz said as he arrived Thursday at the summit: "We've been calling a change of the system for years. We've been saying for years that it is necessary to reduce the number of people who come to Europe illegally, and I think that is possible today."
He supports setting up landing points for migrants outside the EU and strengthening the bloc's Frontex border agency.
3:25 p.m.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is calling for a fundamental change in the European Union's migration policy, saying that his country received little help even though it was at the forefront of receiving migrants from across the Mediterranean.
"Italy doesn't need any more verbal signs, but of concrete deeds," Conte said upon arrival at the EU summit in Brussels Thursday.
Italy's proximity to North Africa has turned it into a key destination for migrant arrivals. Conte is insisting that burden be shared better across the EU. He wants to change an EU system currently in place which put the onus on any nation where the migrants first arrive.
3:10 p.m.
Populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has arrived at an EU summit with rhetorical guns blazing, describing the main issue of migration to Europe as an "invasion" that "should be stopped."
Orban insists that beyond closing off borders, EU member states should also back those who have already arrived.
He says Thursday that "the people request two things. (The) first is, no migrants more in, so stop them. The second is, those who are in, should (be sent) back."
He said both steps were necessary "to restore European democracy."
"The invasion should be stopped and to stop the invasion means to have strong border," Orban said on his way into the summit.
3 p.m.
A German humanitarian group that's been heavily criticized by European governments for rescuing migrants off the coast of Libya says it had no other choice.
A representative of Mission Lifeline said Thursday the group's ship received a distress call in the night of June 20-21 and found an inflatable boat full of people 19 nautical miles off Libya's coast.
Marie Naass told reporters in Berlin that the captain was told by the marine coordination center in Rome to leave the rescue to Libya's coast guard, but they never showed up.
Naass said the captain determined the migrants were in "acute danger" and picked them up. A second ship, 22 nautical miles off Libya's coast, was also rescued.
She added that it was "a question of minutes, you have to decide quickly."
2:30 p.m.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is insisting that European Union countries where migrants arrive deserve assistance, but has rejected the idea that refugees can choose which country to seek asylum in.
Merkel arrived Thursday at an EU summit, seeking progress on a long-elusive European approach to dealing with asylum-seekers amid heavy pressure from her interior minister, who is threatening turn migrants back from Germany's borders unilaterally.
Merkel said that "the states that get a lot of refugees of course need protection and support, but on the other hand refugees and migrants cannot choose in which country they go through asylum proceedings."
She said that protecting the EU's external borders will be a key issue at the summit, and there could be discussions with North African countries about ships docking there.
12:20 p.m.
The number of countries saying they will accept refugees rescued at sea by the German-run charity ship Lifeline has risen to nine.
Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Twitter Thursday that Norway has joined eight other countries that pledged a day earlier to take some of the 234 migrants who are deemed to be eligible for asylum. Those deemed economic refugees will be returned to their countries of origin.
The other eight countries are France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium Ireland and Malta itself.
Malta allowed Lifeline to dock Wednesday after the ship was stuck for days at sea in Europe's latest political impasse over how to cope with asylum-seekers and refugees.
12:10 p.m.
A German humanitarian group has defended the captain and crew of its migrant rescue ship Lifeline, saying they "strictly abided by international law" at all times.
Malta is investigating whether Captain Claus-Peter Reisch broke the law and ignored instructions to take 234 migrants rescued off the Libyan coast to Libya — a charge echoed by France and Italy.
The Mission Lifeline group will hold a news conference Thursday, a day after the ship was allowed to dock in Malta.
On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to weigh into the debate, telling parliament that "there's an obligation to let the Libyan coast guard to do their work."
Aid groups and legal experts have questioned whether war-torn Libya is in a position to conduct proper search and rescue operations around its coastline.
11:40 a.m.
Screening has begun for migrants who arrived in Malta after nearly a week at sea on a humanitarian rescue vessel, to determine whether they are eligible for asylum and relocation to one of eight European Union nations.
The screening process for the 234 migrants, including five children, began Thursday, the morning after they docked in the Maltese capital Valletta. The government said three babies and three adults were being treated at the national government hospital.
Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat opened the country's main port to the German-run ship Lifeline after other EU nations agreed to accept some of the refugees. He said those deemed economic migrants will be sent back to their countries of origin.
Maltese officials seized the ship, citing irregularities in the rescue, and put the captain under investigation.
9:20 a.m.
A Spanish rescue ship has set sail for international waters, carrying four European parliamentarians as EU nations bicker over managing migrant flows across the Mediterranean Sea.
The Astral departed Malta early Thursday to join the Open Arms rescue ship already in the search and rescue zone off the coast of Libya. Both are operated by the Spain-based NGO Proactiva Open Arms.
Three Spanish and one Italian lawmaker joined the mission as observers and plan to share their accounts at the next European plenary session July 2-5 in Strasbourg.
Astral's captain Riccardo Gatti says he is not sure the boat will be allowed back into Maltese port. Several charity-run rescue ships have been denied port in Italy and Malta in recent weeks.
EU officials say the country in question is Italy. The new Italian government wants other EU nations to commit to sharing the load Italy carries as the landing point for migrants coming over from North Africa.
5:40 p.m.
Poland's prime minister says he's pleased that other European countries are coming around to Polish calls to better defend the EU's external borders against migrants.
At an EU summit Thursday, Mateusz Morawiecki also said Poland would stick to its refusal to accept refugees as part of a migrant relocation program.
He told reporters: "I am glad that the European discussion is slowly moving in the direction in which we have always emphasized that it should be, namely more actions on the external borders of the EU."
He also reiterated his belief that more should be done to keep people from leaving their homes in the first place.
5:30 p.m.
Morocco's director of migration and border surveillance says that his country is experiencing new pressures by migrants trying to get to Europe with the growing clampdown on the Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy.
Khalid Zerouali said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that Morocco isn't interested in hosting a station for migrants to determine who is eligible for asylum in Europe. The plan to set up screening stations in some African countries is being discussed at Thursday's EU summit in Brussels as one way to tamp down numbers of arriving migrants.
Zerouali said "that's not the solution."
Migrants use the North African kingdom of Morocco as a jump-off point to Spain. The border chief said that so far this year some 25,000 migrants have been stopped.
5:15 p.m.
An Italian artist in the traditionally right-wing, League-voting region of Veneto has used a tractor to create art on his fields that echo the government's hard-line position on migrants, as an EU summit meets on the issue.
Dario Gambarin inscribed his fields near Verona with the words "Defend Europe" as European leaders gather Thursday in Brussels. He put a peace sign for the "o'' and included the image of a boat on waves.
Gambarin says he backed Italy's position of doing away with the Dublin accords, which require the countries where migrants first arrive to process asylum requests. He said: "Let's remember that who disembarks in Italy, disembarks in Europe."
4:10 p.m.
Humanitarian groups say migrants rescued off the coast of Libya shouldn't be taken back to the North African country because they could face mistreatment there.
Johannes Bayer, a representatives of the German group Sea-Watch, said Thursday that "there needs to be a European solution" for the migrants picked up at sea.
Marie Naass of the group Lifeline told reporters in Berlin that its crews are regularly told by migrants that they've been tortured, raped or subjected to slavery in war-torn Libya.
The group's ship picked up 216 men, 14 women and 4 children off Libya last week despite instructions from Italy not to do so because the migrants were Libya's responsibility.
A European Union-funded program, called 'Aurora,' aims for Libya to establish a fully functioning maritime rescue coordination center by 2020.
3:45 p.m.
Aid groups and opposition lawmakers say the German government lacks compassion and doesn't understand international law, after a migrant recue in the Mediterranean sparked criticism from officials.
Michel Brandt, a Left party lawmaker, accused Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Thursday of trying to criminalize humanitarian work.
Seehofer reportedly called for the ship Lifeline, which rescued 234 people off Libya last week despite instructions not to do so, to be impounded and its crew prosecuted.
A representative of Lifeline, Marie Naas, said humanitarian groups were "being made the scapegoats" for European governments' failed policies.
She told reporters in Berlin the "only reason we exist is because states aren't meeting their responsibility" to rescue people at sea.
Naas also slammed Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for describing the migrants aboard Lifeline as "human meat."
3:35 p.m.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says he's hopeful that the European Union summit starting Thursday could launch a "turnaround in migration policy."
Kurz said that "being rescued in the Mediterranean must not automatically become a ticket to central Europe."
Kurz became chancellor in December after campaigning to restrict migration, and his country takes over the EU's rotating presidency for six months starting Sunday.
Kurz said as he arrived Thursday at the summit: "We've been calling a change of the system for years. We've been saying for years that it is necessary to reduce the number of people who come to Europe illegally, and I think that is possible today."
He supports setting up landing points for migrants outside the EU and strengthening the bloc's Frontex border agency.
3:25 p.m.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is calling for a fundamental change in the European Union's migration policy, saying that his country received little help even though it was at the forefront of receiving migrants from across the Mediterranean.
"Italy doesn't need any more verbal signs, but of concrete deeds," Conte said upon arrival at the EU summit in Brussels Thursday.
Italy's proximity to North Africa has turned it into a key destination for migrant arrivals. Conte is insisting that burden be shared better across the EU. He wants to change an EU system currently in place which put the onus on any nation where the migrants first arrive.
3:10 p.m.
Populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has arrived at an EU summit with rhetorical guns blazing, describing the main issue of migration to Europe as an "invasion" that "should be stopped."
Orban insists that beyond closing off borders, EU member states should also back those who have already arrived.
He says Thursday that "the people request two things. (The) first is, no migrants more in, so stop them. The second is, those who are in, should (be sent) back."
He said both steps were necessary "to restore European democracy."
"The invasion should be stopped and to stop the invasion means to have strong border," Orban said on his way into the summit.
3 p.m.
A German humanitarian group that's been heavily criticized by European governments for rescuing migrants off the coast of Libya says it had no other choice.
A representative of Mission Lifeline said Thursday the group's ship received a distress call in the night of June 20-21 and found an inflatable boat full of people 19 nautical miles off Libya's coast.
Marie Naass told reporters in Berlin that the captain was told by the marine coordination center in Rome to leave the rescue to Libya's coast guard, but they never showed up.
Naass said the captain determined the migrants were in "acute danger" and picked them up. A second ship, 22 nautical miles off Libya's coast, was also rescued.
She added that it was "a question of minutes, you have to decide quickly."
2:30 p.m.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is insisting that European Union countries where migrants arrive deserve assistance, but has rejected the idea that refugees can choose which country to seek asylum in.
Merkel arrived Thursday at an EU summit, seeking progress on a long-elusive European approach to dealing with asylum-seekers amid heavy pressure from her interior minister, who is threatening turn migrants back from Germany's borders unilaterally.
Merkel said that "the states that get a lot of refugees of course need protection and support, but on the other hand refugees and migrants cannot choose in which country they go through asylum proceedings."
She said that protecting the EU's external borders will be a key issue at the summit, and there could be discussions with North African countries about ships docking there.
12:20 p.m.
The number of countries saying they will accept refugees rescued at sea by the German-run charity ship Lifeline has risen to nine.
Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Twitter Thursday that Norway has joined eight other countries that pledged a day earlier to take some of the 234 migrants who are deemed to be eligible for asylum. Those deemed economic refugees will be returned to their countries of origin.
The other eight countries are France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium Ireland and Malta itself.
Malta allowed Lifeline to dock Wednesday after the ship was stuck for days at sea in Europe's latest political impasse over how to cope with asylum-seekers and refugees.
12:10 p.m.
A German humanitarian group has defended the captain and crew of its migrant rescue ship Lifeline, saying they "strictly abided by international law" at all times.
Malta is investigating whether Captain Claus-Peter Reisch broke the law and ignored instructions to take 234 migrants rescued off the Libyan coast to Libya — a charge echoed by France and Italy.
The Mission Lifeline group will hold a news conference Thursday, a day after the ship was allowed to dock in Malta.
On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to weigh into the debate, telling parliament that "there's an obligation to let the Libyan coast guard to do their work."
Aid groups and legal experts have questioned whether war-torn Libya is in a position to conduct proper search and rescue operations around its coastline.
11:40 a.m.
Screening has begun for migrants who arrived in Malta after nearly a week at sea on a humanitarian rescue vessel, to determine whether they are eligible for asylum and relocation to one of eight European Union nations.
The screening process for the 234 migrants, including five children, began Thursday, the morning after they docked in the Maltese capital Valletta. The government said three babies and three adults were being treated at the national government hospital.
Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat opened the country's main port to the German-run ship Lifeline after other EU nations agreed to accept some of the refugees. He said those deemed economic migrants will be sent back to their countries of origin.
Maltese officials seized the ship, citing irregularities in the rescue, and put the captain under investigation.
9:20 a.m.
A Spanish rescue ship has set sail for international waters, carrying four European parliamentarians as EU nations bicker over managing migrant flows across the Mediterranean Sea.
The Astral departed Malta early Thursday to join the Open Arms rescue ship already in the search and rescue zone off the coast of Libya. Both are operated by the Spain-based NGO Proactiva Open Arms.
Three Spanish and one Italian lawmaker joined the mission as observers and plan to share their accounts at the next European plenary session July 2-5 in Strasbourg.
Astral's captain Riccardo Gatti says he is not sure the boat will be allowed back into Maltese port. Several charity-run rescue ships have been denied port in Italy and Malta in recent weeks.
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