Berlin--Germany and France Monday urged the EU to find a fairer way to admit and distribute asylum seekers, as their leaders were to meet the European Commission chief in Berlin.
The Greek debt crisis and the threat of Britain leaving the EU were also sure to occupy minds as Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts President Francois Hollande and Jean-Claude Juncker for a dinner.
Officially the mini-summit starting around 1615 GMT brings the leaders of the eurozone's two biggest economies together with around 20 heads of large European companies to discuss economic challenges.
But the meeting now comes hard on the heels of a joint call by Paris and Berlin for the 28-nation EU to revise its plan to admit asylum seekers landing on Europe's shores.
Decrying an insufficient "balance", the German and French interior ministers said in a joint statement Monday that "deep discussions" were needed to even out "responsibility" and "solidarity".
Last week, the European Commission asked member states to admit 20,000 Syrian refugees from outside Europe and process another 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea landing in Italy and Greece.
Their distribution would depend on factors such as national economic output, population and unemployment rates.
France and Germany said in the joint statement that they currently were among five member states, along with Sweden, Italy and Hungary, that "are in charge of 75 percent of the asylum seekers".
AFP
