Italy Brings European Union Meeting to a Standstill Over Migration

European Union leaders, facing a political crisis over migration that threatens to undermine the bloc, thrashed out ideas Thursday to shore up their external borders and create screening centers on the Continent and in North Africa to determine whether migrants are legitimate refugees.

The new populist government of Italy flexed its muscles during the first day of the union’s summit, blocking agreement on other, uncontentious issues until an accord on migration can be reached. But such an agreement has proved elusive for years, and the ideas discussed at the leaders’ lengthy dinner Thursday seemed to generate as many questions as answers.

Before arriving in Brussels, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned that the issue of migration could make or break the European Union, delivering a passionate address to her parliament.

“Europe faces many challenges,” said Merkel, whose own political fate hangs in the balance over her welcoming stance on migration. “But that of migration could become one that determines the fate of the European Union.”

The summit was originally supposed to focus on changes to solidify the euro and on Britain’s exit from the bloc. It has swerved instead to migration, which has become politically fraught with the rise of populist, anti-immigrant parties — even as the number of migrants to Europe has fallen sharply.

The new Italian government played hardball, with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte refusing to agree to joint conclusions on issues like digital innovation or defense cooperation until migration was dealt with. The leaders will meet again Friday.

Italy has insisted on changing the regulations that govern migration into the European Union, saying that as a country of first landing, it has had enough. Italy has started to turn away ships that rescue migrants from the sea.

At the same time, Merkel faces an internal rebellion by Bavarian conservatives over immigration that threatens to bring down her government. Her Bavarian interior minister has warned that he will disobey her and establish a hard border with Austria unless she strikes a deal with European leaders to stem the flow of migrants into Germany.

That standoff reflects the fraught politics of migration, with Bavarian conservatives facing a strong challenge from the far-right, anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany in state elections in October.

So Merkel came to Brussels to reach the kind of accord on limiting migration that has slipped the grasp of EU leaders for years.

France, seeking to broker an agreement with Italy, proposed that screening centers be set up somewhere inside Europe to take the pressure off countries where migrants first land and are registered, including Italy, Greece and Spain. Yet it was not clear which countries might agree to house such centers, or how they would work.

European officials have also worked on strengthening the bloc’s external borders to reduce illegal migration, proposing similar screening centers outside Europe, presumably in North Africa. But again, it was not clear which African countries might agree to host such centers, or whether they would be compatible with international law.

The European Union has no uniform asylum regulations or procedures, raising further questions about how such centers would even operate. But any such move would be a significant change to the current practice, which is for migrants to be screened in the European country where they first arrive.

Also under discussion are expansion of Europe’s border guard forces, the possibility of a more uniform asylum policy, bilateral or trilateral deals among countries to distribute migrants more equitably and aid to origin countries like those in North Africa.

Carrying out any of these ideas will take more than a long dinner meeting. But Merkel hopes some progress will be enough to bring peace to her coalition and allow her to remain in power.

If she fails to reach an agreement that would allow her to turn back certain groups of migrants at the German border, the Bavarians could quit her government, a move that would most likely put her out of a job after almost 13 years as German leader and usher in months of uncertainty in the European Union’s most influential country.

In front of a rowdy parliament on Thursday, she essentially conflated her own fate with that of the union. Either Europe masters this challenge of migration, she said, and proves to other countries that “we are guided by values and that we rely on multilateralism, and not unilateralism,” or “no one will believe any more in our value system that made us so strong.”

Still, Merkel acknowledged, Germany and other European countries were not yet “where we want to be.” Two points up for discussion in Brussels remained particularly difficult, she said: how to distribute asylum-seekers around the bloc’s 28 countries, and whether there could be a unified European asylum policy.

The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said before the summit that the leaders should “focus on the EU’s external borders,” including screening centers, since the flow of migrants had slowed. Since 2015, Tusk said, “we have managed to stem the migration flow by 96 percent only because we decided to cooperate with third countries and to block illegal migration outside the EU.”

The alternative, he said, “would be a chaotically advancing closure of borders — also within the EU — as well as growing conflict among EU member states.”

But given the tough stance on migration being taken by countries like Italy, Austria and Hungary, Tusk suggested, Europe needed to act. “Some may think I am too tough in my proposals on migration, but trust me,” he said. “If we don’t agree on them then you will see some really tough proposals from some really tough guys.”

Merkel agreed, rejecting the idea of unilaterally turning back migrants at the border. Such a move would have ripple effects far beyond Germany, she warned, endangering the European project of border-free travel. Merkel’s pro-European stance and her decision to open Germany’s borders to more than 1.4 million migrants since 2015 have earned her a reputation as a defender of liberal values, while also making her the main target of far-right and populist forces across the Continent.

Her address in parliament on Thursday was unusually combative, and it was frequently interrupted by heckling from representatives of Alternative for Germany. The noise level was so high at one point that Merkel stopped and said: “My God. Really?”

In Brussels, the Hungarian prime minister, Victor Orban, was characteristically harsh.

“I think the people really request two things: First is, no more migrants in,” he said. The second, he said, would be the deportation of those who are already in Europe but do not qualify as refugees.

“So that’s what the people want,” Orban said. “So I think in order to restore the European democracy, we have to move to that direction.”

But there were words of support for Merkel from other leaders, including those of Spain and Luxembourg, whose prime minister, Xavier Bettel, said: “If we have countries saying this and that is a red line, we will never get an agreement. Legal immigration has to be the rule.” “There are so many people who arrived in different countries and then made their way to Germany,” Bettel continued. “I understand Germany says, ‘Why do we have to deal with everything?'”

Charles Michel, the prime minister of Belgium, said that the discussion was a “very important moment” for Europe.

“Do we or do we not want to protect the Schengen zone by finding solutions together in a European context to manage the refugees and migrants?” he asked, referring to the system that allows passport-free travel through much of Europe.