Leaders to meet in bid to bridge rift on refugees

BRUSSELS — With another immigrant rescue ship stranded in the Mediterranean and both Italy and Malta again refusing to let it dock, European Union leaders will try to find common ground for tackling a growing political crisis that is threatening to undermine the entire EU.

The leaders of about 16 countries — more than half the 28-nation bloc — will take part in what is being billed as “informal talks” in Brussels on Sunday ahead of a full EU summit Thursday and Friday, where migration will top the agenda.

The arrival of more than 1 million people in 2015, most fleeing wars in Syria and Iraq, exposed glaring deficiencies in EU immigrant reception capacities and asylum laws. It has fueled tensions among EU nations, and anti-immigrant parties have won votes in Europe by fomenting public fears of foreigners.

“These rescue ships can forget about reaching Italy,” Italy’s new firebrand interior minister, Matteo Salvini, said Saturday as he assured his anti-immigrant base that he would “crush” the human trafficking business.

At the heart of the problem lie deep divisions over who should take responsibility for arriving refugees — often Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Greece and increasingly Spain — how long they should be required to accommodate them, and what should be done to help those EU countries hardest hit.

The problem was highlighted last week in a dispute between Italy’s new populist government, Malta and France over who should take responsibility for 630 people rescued from the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, the main departure point for people trying to reach Europe.

Amid the mudslinging, Spain’s new Socialist government agreed to take charge of the immigrants and the ship eventually made a weeklong voyage to Valencia.

On Saturday, Spain also announced it had rescued 569 more migrants at sea, many from boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, a busy shipping lane with treacherous currents.

And now another rescue ship, operated by the German aid group Mission Lifeline, is stranded in the Mediterranean off Malta after both Italy and Malta refused to let it dock with its 234 migrants.

Maltese authorities provided humanitarian assistance Saturday to the Lifeline’s passengers, but Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat stood firm and insisted that Malta had “no responsibility” for the rescue.

Lorne Cook is an Associated Press writer.

Hermine Poschmann / Mission Lifeline Mission Lifeline, a German aid group, helps refugees found Thursday trying to cross the Mediterranean. Both Italy and Malta have refused Mission Lifeline’s request to dock.