EU nations agree step-by-step approach to migration reform

By SYLVIE CORBET and LORNE COOK
The Associated Press

LILLE, France (AP) — European Union interior ministers have agreed to create a new decision-making body in efforts to beef up the 27-nation bloc’s borders, and to kick-start desperately needed reforms to the EU’s malfunctioning asylum system. The EU has been mired in a deep political crisis since well over 1 million people began entering in 2015. Greece was overwhelmed by migrants landing in its islands on rafts and dinghies from Turkey. Other countries were slow or reluctant to help. The old asylum system is based on the notion that the country where migrants first arrive must deal with them. That system collapsed. At talks in Lille, in northern France, EU interior ministers agreed to discuss changes step-by-step, starting next month.