AKIPRESS.COM - The escalation of the war in Syria and the approach of winter have given added urgency to an EU summit on migration - the fourth one this year to focus on the crisis.

The Brussels talks on Thursday will look especially at the problems faced by Turkey, hosting more than two million Syrian refugees, reports BBC.

The EU is anxious to stem the record influx of refugees from Turkey, as 350,000 reached Greek islands between January and September this year.

The migrant crisis has severely strained the goodwill between EU states.

The inconsistency in asylum policy across the EU has led to bitter arguments.

Hungary, Slovakia and some other countries are reluctant to take in non-European refugees, arguing that they have much less experience of integration than countries like Sweden and Germany.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel also faces growing opposition at home to her welcome for refugees, as the number of asylum seekers in Germany this year is forecast to reach at least 800,000.

Opinion polls suggest her popularity has suffered. But across Europe there is also sympathy for refugees fleeing war and persecution, and some anxiety that EU solidarity - fundamental to the bloc's consensus politics - is now crumbling.