Under-fire Merkel says EU summit won't solve migration issue

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today played down expectations that an EU summit next week will reach a solution on the issue of migration that has plunged her government into crisis.

Speaking on a visit to Lebanon, Merkel said, "We know that no solution will be reached on Thursday and Friday at the level of the 28 member states... on the overall issue of migration".

Instead, she said, "bilateral, trilateral and multilateral" deals must be reached to tackle the issue -- a message echoed almost word for word by her spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer at a Berlin press conference.

The comments came after Italy's new coalition of far-right and anti-establishment parties made clear it does not want to take in more migrants, and after several eastern European states said they would stay away from preliminary talks on the issue Sunday.

Italy's far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini reiterated in comments to German news weekly Der Spiegel that "we cannot take in one more person. On the contrary: we want to send away a few."