EU interior ministers fail to reach consensus on migration

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - European Union interior ministers were unable to reach a consensus on the migration crisis at a meeting Thursday in Brussels.

"I think we are very close to reaching an agreement," Spain's acting Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told a press conference after the meeting.

"There are some points of detail which still need to be a fine-tuned, and we hope that over the next few days, we will be able to announce a general approach regarding the crisis regulation," he added.

Grande-Marlaska refrained from detailing the points or which countries were disagreeing with them.

Before the meeting, EU officials and ministers of member countries were very hopeful that an agreement would be reached.

According to sources who spoke to the media, Germany and Italy may be the reason behind the failure to reach an agreement due to Germany's proposal to support non-governmental organization ships providing humanitarian aid and search and rescue services in the Mediterranean, which is opposed by Italy, as it might turn into "an attractive factor for migrants."