Macron gathers EU leaders in Paris for counter-terror talks

Paris, Aug 29 (IANS) France's President on Monday welcomed the German chancellor and the Prime Ministers of Italy and Spain to Paris, where the leaders held a summit to examine further security measures that can be taken by the European Union to tackle the threat of terrorism.

Emmanuel Macron received Angela Merkel, Paolo Gentiloni and Mariano Rajoy at the Elys?e Palace, the seat of the French presidency, just 11 days after a series of terror attacks struck the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, Efe reported.

Following the attacks of August 17, which left 15 people dead in Barcelona and one victim dead in the seaside town of Cambrils, Rajoy requested from Macron that the talks touch upon how the EU could collaborate more in the fight against terror.

Spain's government was hopeful that all possible EU security mechanisms would be put in place to render its counter-terror mission effective as well as to facilitate the rapid sharing of intelligence between EU member states.

The summit on terror was preceded by a separate meeting on migration, which was attended by the EU's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, the presidents of Niger and Chad, Issoufou Mahamadou and Idriss D?by, and the chairman of the Libyan presidential council, Fayez al-Sarraj, as well as the four EU leaders who took part in the terror summit.

The meeting in Paris follows a similar summit held at the Palace of Versailles on March 6, which was hosted by the then-president of France, Francois Hollande.