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".
"This situation is not fair and no longer sustainable," it said.Merkel, Hollande and Juncker are due to deliver press statements in Berlin at 1640 GMT before a working dinner.
European sources have said that the get-together is aimed at working on plans for greater integration of the 19-member eurozone in the wake of the debt turmoil that still plagues cash-strapped Greece.
But Juncker told a German newspaper Monday that he would be "very surprised" if Greece`s woes were not at the heart of the Berlin discussions, reiterating his opposition to a so-called "Grexit".
"I don`t share this idea that we`d have fewer concerns and constraints if Greece gave up the euro," the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper quoted him as saying.
The Berlin meeting also follows a three-way telephone call Sunday between Merkel, Hollande and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose country is locked in protracted talks with its creditors in a bid to unlock 7.2 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in bailout funds.
Sources close to the Greek government said a "good atmosphere" prevailed during the 35-minute conversation, while Merkel`s spokeswoman described the discussions as "constructive".
With key deadlines approaching and Athens` coffers nearly empty, a deal has so far proved elusive between Athens and the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank who demand greater reforms in exchange for cash.Tsipras slammed lenders` insistence on what he described as "absurd" proposals in a column in French newspaper Le Monde Sunday, stressing Athens had made concessions, including agreeing to implement a series of previously-opposed privatisations.
Further pressure came at talks in Dresden, eastern Germany, last week between finance ministers from the seven major industrialised democracies, with the United States and Japan adding their voices in urging a swift resolution of Greece`s debt crisis.
"All parties need to move," US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said.
EU Digital Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in comments to Germany`s Welt newspaper that no breakthrough was expected on Greece at the Berlin talks, saying the challenges were too big.
He signalled that there was "movement" in the negotiations, such as on sales tax reform, but added "on central issues around the labour market and pension system, the differences are still big".
The Berlin talks also come the week after all three leaders met freshly re-elected Prime Minister David Cameron to hear his reform wish-list for helping keep Britain in the EU.
Merkel stressed after her meeting with Cameron Friday that she wants to keep Britain in the EU and said Germany did not rule out changing EU treaties.
