As European politicians react to the shock aroused by the photo of the body of three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach, France has executed a U-turn in its policy on refugee quotas. President François Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel urged EU members to accept "binding" quotas on Thursday, reports RFI.
Images of Aylan Kurdi lying dead in the surf - and his father's emotional account of how the little boy and his four-year-old brother "slipped through my hands" - have increased pressure on European leaders to address the continent's worst refugee crisis since World War II.
On Thursday Hollande joined Merkel in calling for binding quotas, a position he and prime minister Manuel Valls rejected a few months ago.
Hollande had planned to address the migrant crisis next Monday in his first statement on the question following the summer holidays.
But "public opinion is changing", as one of his advisors put it.
Hollande was still avoiding using the word "quotas" on Thursday, preferring the term "permanent mechanism" and French officials cited support for the far right as a reason for caution.