Brussels (dpa), JUNE 24 2018  - The leaders of 16 European Union countries are set to meet on Sunday to discuss solutions to the bloc’s migration crisis, as the issue once again exposes major divides between EU members.   

The talks in Brussels, which European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker described as an “informal working meeting,” come ahead of a crucial summit with all EU leaders scheduled for Thursday and Friday.   

Recent disputes in Germany and Italy have brought the bitter debate on migration and asylum policy - which the EU has been trying to overhaul since the 2015 migrant crisis - back into focus in Europe. 

 
Italy, where a new government took office recently, closed its ports last week to a boat carrying more than 600 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, in a message to other European states that Italy needs more help.    In Germany, meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel is being challenged over her efforts to find European solutions to the migration issue, with her interior minister and long-time ally, Horst Seehofer, threatening to close the border to new arrivals.