Thousands of refugees may lose right of asylum under EU plans

An emergency meeting of interior ministers called to grapple with Europe’s worst modern refugee crisis was also expected to call for the establishment of refugee camps in Italy and Greece and for the detention of “irregular migrants” denied asylum and facing deportation but for whom “voluntary return” was not currently “practicable.” The ministers faced a bruising battle over whether Europe should adopt a new system of mandatory quotas for sharing refugees. The scheme, proposed by the European commission last week, is strongly supported by Germany which sought to impose the idea on the rejectionists mainly in eastern Europe.