German, France leaders in Italy for crisis meeting with Italian PM

The leaders of Germany and France arrived in Italy on Monday (August 22) to discuss how to keep the European project together in the second set of talks between the premiers of the euro zone’s three largest economies since Britain’s shock vote to leave the bloc.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on a ship ahead of September’s EU summit called to discuss reverberations from the Brexit vote.

The three leaders are due to hold a news conference at around 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on the Italian aircraft carrier, the Garibaldi, which is the flagship of the EU’s “Sophia” mission in the Mediterranean. The operation is intended to tackle migrant smugglers, help enforce an arms embargo off Libya, and train the Libyan coast guard.

The EU plans to offer incentives to African governments to help slow the flow of migrants who have poured into Europe over the past three years, but disagreements on how to handle the situation have laid bare divisions between member states.

Italy, the main entry point for Africans but rarely their planned destination, is struggling to house migrants turned back from neighbouring countries including France, and has disagreed with Germany over how to finance the response.