Angela Merkel downplays prospect of Brussels breakthrough on migration

German Chancellor Angela Merkel downplayed expectations of a major breakthrough being reached at Sunday's hastily-arranged talks between some EU leaders on the migration dispute dividing Europe.

"The meeting on Sunday is a consultation and working meeting at which there will be no concluding statement," she told a Beirut news conference alongside Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri. "It is an initial exchange with interested member states."

She also rejected suggestions that strains within her coalition over migration policy had brought her government to the brink of collapse.

"I am working for the coalition to do its tasks as set out in the coalition agreement," she said. "We have lots more to do."