EU Still Divided Over Tackling Migrants Crisis

European Union leaders have failed to agree on measures to share the burden of an influx of thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe.

Ministers met in Luxembourg today to discuss how to distribute 40,000 new refugees who have arrived in Italy and Greece.

The two countries have borne the brunt of the surge in migrants trying to enter the 28-nation European Union in recent months.

Around 100,000 migrants have arrived so far this year, with another 2,000 feared drowned during perilous crossings of the Mediterranean Sea.

During today's talks, EU interior ministers disagreed over how to equitably split up the migrants to ease the load on Greece and Italy.

Voluntary efforts to distribute the migrants have proved inadequate, and a proposal to relocate Syrians and Eritreans throughout Europe over the next two years has failed to garner widespread support.

The plan is controversial as it would establish a precedent for each EU country to commit to hosting a certain number of refugees.

Only around 10 of the EU nations support the proposal, and even those that do would like to see changes to how the refugees are distributed.

Britain has indicated it will not support the relocation plan.

Speaking at the talks, Home Secretary Theresa May said the Mediterranean migrant crisis is already "reaching to our borders".

She said Britain is playing its role in search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea.

"Of course the crisis in terms of migrants who cross the Mediterranean is a problem in two ways," she said.

"First of all, obviously, lives are being put at risk but secondly, as we see in Calais and elsewhere, it's putting great pressure on European towns and cities which is even reaching to our borders, although we are not part of the borderless Schengen area.

"To deal with this issue in the long term we need to go after the criminal gangs who are plying a terrible, callous trade in human lives."

Despite broad disagreement over how to handle the crisis, France, Italy and Germany say they want to join forces to identify migrants arriving by sea and to swiftly relocate them across the EU.

The three countries say the migrants will be sent back to their home countries if their claims for asylum in Europe are rejected.

The Luxembourg talks come as Italian riot police forcibly removed dozens of African migrants who have been camping in Ventimiglia, on Italy's border with France.

Some migrants protested at the removal, grabbing onto signposts, while others had to be carried off by their legs and arms.

In Greece, hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, including women and children, have also joined protests on the island of Lesvos, demanding better living conditions.

The migrants also want to be housed separately from Afghan arrivals after a fight broke out in one of the island's camps.

Lesvos has struggled to cope with a huge influx of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa crossing from Turkey to nearby Greek islands.