EU 'has east-west split' on migrant quotas

EU leaders are bitterly divided over a quota scheme for housing migrants, as they begin a summit in Brussels.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk called mandatory EU-wide quotas "ineffective". He spoke of a split "between east and west" over asylum policy.

"These divisions are compounded by emotions which make it hard to find common language," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged "solidarity" to help Italy and Greece, overburdened with asylum claims.

Poland and three neighbours in Central Europe reject the EU's asylum policy.

Mr Tusk's criticism of quotas irritated an EU commissioner ( Dimitris Avramopoulos) and some other officials.
 BBC
 14/12/17