MADRID (AP) — Leaders of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands have met to coordinate their policies on migration and Brexit negotiations, among other European issues.
French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking in a news conference following Thursday’s meeting in Luxembourg, said the EU’s main point-of-entry countries for migrants, like Spain, Italy and Greece, have a “responsibility and cannot avoid it.”
Macron criticized Italy and its anti-European government for refusing to receive people rescued at sea in recent months, insisting that “the closest port is the one that must be used.”
He said European solidarity is needed to provide financial aid to point-of-entry countries and help send back those who do not qualify for asylum to their countries of origin.