The EU must speed up deportation of economic migrants and "crack down" on abuse of its asylum system, British interior minister Theresa May said as ministers met to discuss Europe's refugee and migrant crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described as "obsolete" European Union asylum rules that put the onus on EU states where migrants first arrive to process their refugee claim
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the EU consider a no-fly zone and safe haven area in Syria during talks to address Europe's spiralling migrant crisis.
The huge influx of migrants into Europe is being used by some foreign leaders to weaken the European Union politically, EU president Donald Tusk said Friday in Poland.
US President Barack Obama pressed European nations to take their "fair share" of refugees, after the EU reluctantly reached an agreement designed to halt a destabilizing humanitarian crisis.
Greece's newly-elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras unveiled his new government, giving the crisis-hit country's key finance portfolio to Euclid Tsakalotos.
Slovakia's leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico said he would rather risk infringing EU rules than implement mandatory refugee quotas adopted by the bloc.
The EU congratulated Alexis Tsipras on his left-wing party's re-election victory and said Greece has "no time to lose" in implementing the reforms agreed as part of its international bailout.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that EU members reluctant to accept migrant quotas may have to be outvoted and overruled in the 28-member bloc.
The European Union has announced an emergency summit in Brussels next in a bid to find solutions to the continent's worst refugee crisis since World War II.
EU president Donald Tusk said he would consider requests by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others for an emergency summit on migrants and decide later this week.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the EU to agree to a proportional distribution of refugees with no limits on actual numbers, going much further than plans unveiled by the European Commission.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Europe should stop looking on helplessly as "murder" rages on in Syria, as he called on the bloc to review its strategy on the conflict.
EU president Donald Tusk urged a crackdown on the "murderers" among human traffickers who have killed scores of people trying to reach Europe from conflicts abroad.
British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered an embarrassing defeat in parliament over how the referendum he has called on leaving the European Union will be conducted.