REUTERS
BRUSSELS/ROME
ITALIAN Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday a draft EU accord on migration was withdrawn following a clash between himself and Germany over the issue that has split Europe and undermined Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The contested joint declaration was drawn up ahead of a meeting of 10 EU leaders set for Brussels on Sunday, with Germany and France hoping for a swift deal that could then be approved at a full EU summit at the end of next week.
It contained key elements Merkel needs to placate her rebellious coalition partner, the Bavaria-based Christian Social Union (CSU) and its head, Horst Seehofer, who is also Germany's interior minister.
But Rome objected to provisions that said asylum seekers would have to be returned to the EU country they had first logged their claim in, which often means Italy.
Rome has taken in some 650,000 boat migrants over the past five years, stoking anti-immigration sentiment in Italy and fuelling the rise of the far-right League, which forged a coalition government this month.
Conte, who had threatened not to go to Brussels on Sunday unless the draft declaration was amended, spoke to Merkel on Thursday.
"The chancellor clarified that there had been a 'misunderstanding'. The draft text released yesterday will be shelved," Conte wrote on Facebook, adding that he would now go to Brussels at the weekend.
EU states have waged migration wars since arrivals spiked across the Mediterranean in 2015, when more than one million refugees and migrants reached its shores across the Mediterranean. There have been 41,000 sea arrivals so far this year, data shows.
Most of them are between coastal states of arrival like Italy and rich destination states like Germany, where governments have felt heat from voters over managing the new arrivals.
East EU states like Poland and Hungary refuse to host any of these people to alleviate the burden on their most affected peers. They have drawn criticism for not showing solidarity, but have not budged.