Tusk mulls special migration summit, decision Thursday

(BRUSSELS) - EU president Donald Tusk said Tuesday he would consider requests by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others for an emergency summit on migrants and decide later this week.

Calls for a crisis meeting of European Union leaders were mounting after interior ministers failed to reach a deal Monday on binding quotas for the redistribution of refugees.

"During my consultations some leaders requested an extra EUCO (summit) on migration. I will continue consultations and announce my decision Thursday," Tusk said on Twitter.

Tusk had last week warned that he would call a special summit if the ministers failed to agree on a solution at their meeting in Brussels, warning of the need for "solidarity and unity."

Merkel and her Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann on Tuesday jointly called for a summit to be held next week to deal with Europe's biggest migration crisis since World War II.

"It is a problem for the entire European Union and therefore we argued for a special EU summit to be held next week," Merkel said in Berlin.