The mayors of seven major French cities say they have been “backed up against a wall” by an unending influx of refugees. Paris must address the strain on the areas, which are struggling to accommodate new arrivals, they wrote.

Berlin is mooting the idea of sending migrants back to Greece for the first time in five years. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere says that Germany has done its bit to help refugees, but needed help from the rest of the bloc to take in migrants.

David Cameron has caved into demands for Britain to take in more child refugees who are stranded in Europe and at grave risk of human trafficking and sexual abuse, in what observers have branded a significant U-turn.