EU ministers meeting in Brussels
have failed to agree unanimously on a plan to relocate 120,000 asylum
seekers with mandatory quotas.
Instead, a majority agreed in principle and negotiations will now take place ahead of another meeting in October.
Earlier,
more European countries introduced temporary border checks, hours after
Germany imposed controls on its border with Austria.
And tough new border controls have now come into force in Hungary.
On
Monday, police in Hungary completed a fence designed to stop thousands
of migrants who have been crossing the border from Serbia.
The new
laws, which came into effect at midnight (10:00 GMT), allow police
deployed along the border to arrest anyone considered an illegal
immigrant or who tries to breach the new fence.
'Time of the essence'
Luxembourg,
which holds the EU presidency, said it was hoped that the relocation
proposal - unveiled last week by European Commission chief Jean-Claude
Juncker - could be made law at a meeting on 8 October.
Leading up to Monday's meeting, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary were among the nations opposed to mandatory quotas.
"The quota system isn't the solution," Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak said as he arrived.
At a news conference after the talks, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said "not everyone is on board at the moment".
He warned the situation in Europe was "urgent and dramatic and time is of the essence".
Ministers
did, however, agree to begin the relocation of 40,000 migrants from
Greece and Italy to other EU states, as proposed by the European
Commission before the summer. Analysis: Chris Morris, BBC News, Brussels
After
a difficult meeting marked by heated debate, there was no unanimous
agreement on the proposal to relocate another 120,000 refugees across
the EU - with mandatory quotas for individual member states.
The
idea was to take the strain off countries like Greece and Italy, where
most refugees first arrive. A clear majority of countries did agree to
the proposal in principle, and that would be enough to push it through
if necessary, against the wishes of countries like Hungary, Slovakia and
the Czech Republic that remain opposed. For now though, there will be
further talks in the hope of maintaining unity, at a time when many of
the core values of the European Union are being put under close
scrutiny.
EU ministers also agreed to push ahead with robust
measures to process new arrivals more quickly and efficiently, and send
home those whose asylum applications are rejected. But critics will be
disappointed that more decisive action was not taken, given the scale of
the crisis confronting Europe. Lyse Doucet: Where does this crisis end? Caring for solo child refugees Crisis explained in graphics What next for Germany's asylum seekers?
Under complex EU rules, a unanimous vote is not required and decisions can be made with a qualified majority.
However, correspondents says that would be a show of disunity that the EU is trying to avoid.
Mr
Asselborn said a list of safe countries, to which failed asylum seekers
can be returned, had been agreed on principle. He said Turkey would not
be on the list because of an upsurge of violence between the government
and Kurdish militants.
Austria deploys troops
Earlier,
German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said its border checks, announced
on Sunday, were a signal that Germany "cannot accommodate all of the
refugees alone".
Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands later said they would also tighten controls.
The
moves are a challenge to the EU's Schengen agreement on free movement,
although the rules do allow for temporary controls in emergencies.
Media captionMigrants in Vienna who want to head further west are now stranded after Germany imposed border checks, as Bethany Bell reports
European
states have been struggling to cope with a record influx of migrants,
who are mainly trying to reach Germany and Sweden.
Austrian police said up to 7,000 people had arrived from Hungary on Monday, and 14,000 on Sunday.
Chancellor
Werner Faymann said troops were also being deployed, mainly to provide
humanitarian help within Austria, but would be sent to the border if
necessary.
"If Germany carries out border controls, Austria must
put strengthened border controls in place," Vice-Chancellor Reinhold
Mitterlehner said.
Most of the migrants who have moved north into
Hungary in recent weeks have fled conflict, oppression and poverty in
Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea.
Many have been refusing to
register in Greece or Hungary, fearing it will stop them being granted
asylum in Germany or other EU states.
Earlier on Monday, the UN refugee agency warned that refugees could find themselves "in legal limbo" It said
announcements of different border control measures by European states
"only underlines the urgency of establishing a comprehensive European
response".
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