EU leaders holding late-night talks
in Brussels have agreed to relocate tens of thousands of migrants who
have arrived in Italy and Greece.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk said 40,000 would be relocated to other EU states over the next two years.
However, there will be no mandatory quotas for each country.
The
Greek debt crisis is also on the summit's agenda. Greece and its
international creditors remain deadlocked after talks on Thursday.
Earlier,
Mr Tusk called on EU member states to share the burden of the boat
loads of illegal migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean.
New
figures from the UN refugee agency UNHCR show that 63,000 migrants have
arrived in Greece by sea this year and 62,000 in Italy.
"Leaders
agreed that 40,000 persons in need will be relocated from Greece and
Italy to other states over the next two years," Mr Tusk told reporters.
"Interior ministers will finalise the scheme by the end of July."
Leaders also agreed to resettle another 20,000 refugees from outside the EU.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Brussels says Hungary, which has seen
thousands of migrants cross its border by land, and Bulgaria, one of
the EU's poorest countries, have both been granted exemptions.
The
UK has opted out of the scheme, while nations in eastern Europe refused
to accept set quotas, so it will be only voluntary. This angered
Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who called the plan "modest".
Italy has sought more help from its EU partners to handle the boat loads of migrants.
The migrant crisis has been high on the agenda for the EU summit, which opened on Thursday.
The situation is being fuelled by the many Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country.
More than three million refugees are being housed in countries on Syria's borders - far more than the EU has taken in.
But
many thousands are also fleeing chaos, violence and dire poverty in
Eritrea, Somalia and other countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Meanwhile, the impasse in the Greek debt talks has threatened to overshadow the summit.
Only
once agreement on economic reforms is reached between Greece and its
creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - will the final €7.2bn tranche
of bailout funds be released to Greece.
The cash-strapped country must make a €1.6bn (£1.1bn) IMF debt
repayment by Tuesday or face default and a possible exit from the euro.
On Thursday, a meeting of eurozone finance ministers also broke up without progress on the issue.
It
was the fourth time in a week that the Eurogroup had met in an attempt
to prevent a Greek debt default. They will meet again on Saturday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that meeting would be "decisive" in finding a solution.
IMF head Christine Lagarde said lenders had been presented with a
counter-proposal by the Greek parties "at the last hour" on Thursday and
needed more time to assess it, Reuters reported.
Also during Thursday's talks, UK Prime Minister David Cameron outlined his plans to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership of the EU.
Mr Tusk said EU leaders should consider British concerns but "only in a way that is safe for all of Europe".
Greek debt talks - main sticking points
Greece has refused to accept cuts to pension payments or public sector wages
The IMF is pushing for deeper spending cuts, not just more tax rises
A key point of friction is a special benefit paid to some low-income pensioners, which creditors want scrapped
Creditors also want a wider VAT base;
Greece says it will not allow extra VAT on medicines or electricity
bills, and has also resisted calls for VAT hikes on hotels and
restaurants
Athens wants a concrete commitment to debt relief, something its creditors are not offering
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