EU holds crisis summit after refugee deal forced through

Ministers were forced through a controversial deal to relocate 120,000 refugees

European Union leaders hold an emergency migration summit today amid a growing east-west split after ministers forced through a controversial deal to relocate 120,000 refugees.

Overriding opposition from eastern European states, interior ministers approved plans yesterday that require all to take their share of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have overwhelmed frontline states such as Greece and Italy.

But in a rare step on a matter concerning a core sovereign right, the deal was passed by majority vote instead of unanimously, highlighting sharp and growing divisions in the 28-nation bloc on how to tackle the worst migration crisis since World War II.

Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia voted against the relocation plan while Finland abstained, arguing that Brussels has no right to make them take people in.

EU Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos rejected any suggestion that the outcome did more harm than good, insisting that all member states were now on board.

"On the contrary, it is a victory for the EU and for all member states," Avramopoulos said Wednesday as he arrived for talks with officials before the 1600 GMT leaders summit.

"We are determined to work closely with all member states... We need to work hard to implement what was agreed yesterday," he said.

In Bratislava, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said he was prepared to break the EU's rules rather than accept the proposal.

"I would rather go to an infringement than to accept this diktat," he said, quoted by Slovakia's leading SME daily.

"Very soon we will find that the emperor is naked. Common sense has lost today!" Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec tweeted after the vote.

Wednesday's summit will focus on the next steps to take, mainly strengthening the bloc's external borders and providing extra funds for Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and UN agencies.

Any summit decision must be unanimous under EU rules, unlike decisions taken at the level of ministers.

Europe is under increasing pressure over its handling of a huge influx of hundreds of thousand of migrants this year, many of them fleeing conflict and repression in Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea.

Pictures earlier this month of a drowned Syrian refugee toddler washed up on a Turkish beach sparked global outrage.

In response, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker drew up plans for mandatory quotas and a permanent mechanism to manage the refugee influx overseen by Brussels.