Migrant crisis: Closing all borders impossible, says EC chief

European Union ministers meeting in Brussels have failed to agree unanimously on a plan to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers with mandatory quotas.

Instead, a majority agreed in principle, and negotiations will now take place ahead of another meeting in October.

Speaking at a news conference, Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said closing all borders to asylum seekers was "unrealistic, populist and simply impossible".

But he admitted that opening all borders was "equally unrealistic" because this it would "seriously harm the European social model".