European Union leaders held an emergency migration summit on Wednesday amid a growing East-West split after ministers forced through a controversial deal to relocate 120,000 refugees.

Overriding opposition from Eastern European states, interior ministers approved plans on Tuesday that require all to take their share of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have overwhelmed front-line states such as Greece and Italy.

But in a rare step on a matter concerning a core sovereign right, the deal was passed by majority vote instead of unanimously, highlighting sharp and growing divisions in the 28-nation bloc on how to tackle the worst migration crisis since World War II.