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"Hotspots will be set up by the end of November," Tusk said. The aim is to separate refugees fleeing war from economic migrants.

Tusk also said that the EU leaders agreed to mobilize an additional one billion euros for the UN refugee agency and the World Food Program to help refugees in the region around Syria.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that President Bashar al-Assad should be involved in any Syrian peace talks, amid mounting pressure to end the four-year conflict. "We have to speak with many actors, this includes Assad, but others as well," Merkel told a press conference after the summit.

The EU's president urged leaders gathering for an emergency summit Wednesday to stop fighting over a refugee quota deal and take urgent action to secure the bloc's borders in the face of "millions" of migrants.

Draft summit conclusions called for more aid to affected countries outside the bloc including the western Balkans and Syria's neighbors Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon.

EU leaders have achieved certain progress regarding solutions for the refugee crisis in the medium- and long-term, Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma (Unity) said after an emergency European Council meeting Thursday.

After the meeting, the prime minister said that EU leaders have discussed ways to strengthen the borders, as well as cooperation with third countries, including support for Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. They also discussed ways to provide aid, including food. Asked about Latvia's involvement, the prime minister said that it will be evaluated, as Latvia will not "stand by". At the same time, she admitted that the net contributing countries have voiced readiness to contribute tens and even hundreds of millions of euros. As for Latvia's contribution, "these will not be millions", said the prime minister.

She also revealed that the main discussions focused on the creation of registration centers in the so-called frontline countries. Recapping the meeting's conclusions, Straujuma indicated that discussions also focused on how to separate and register the refugees. "People have already gotten inside, it is very complicated, as they often have no documents," the prime minister said.

During the meeting, Straujuma had informed the EU leaders that Latvia is not ready to accept a mandatory refugee relocation system. "However, we did not discuss this," she reminded, adding that discussions about strategic matters were not so fierce. "There were discussions about fences – to build or not to build them, as well as refugee flows and routes," she said.

As reported, Latvia has agreed to voluntarily take in an additional 526 refugees. The Latvian position points out that it does not object to a coordinated EU action in relocating refugees, however, it maintains that such activities can only be done voluntarily, and that each country holds the right to decide how many refugees it will take in.