Migrants flock to Europe as EU leaders meet for a solution

23 settembre 2015

3 min di lettura

(AGI) Rome, Sept 23 - Migrants were continuing to flock towardsEurope as EU leaders were meeting on Wednesday evening to tryand come up with a joint solution. Just a few hours before theExtraordinary Council of Europe, the EU Commission proposed a1.7 billion euro increase to resources for tacklinghumanitarian crises in the two-year period 2015-2016.Meanwhile, EU budget allocations for dealing with the crisishave almost doubled, from 4.6 to 9.5 billion euros. The EU hasalso asked Italy for information on the implementation of thelegislation on the digital recording of arriving migrants'fingerprints and on the repatriation directive. The First VicePresident of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, has alsoappealed to Italy to make the registration and sorting ofmigrants at hotspots operative as soon as possible. The EUleaders need to come up with a joint political solution thatgoes further than the obligatory relocation of the refugees,approved with a large majority by the EU ministers of theinterior on Tuesday, but opposed by the Czech Republic,Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Czech Republic Prime MinisterBohuslav Sobotka has, however, announced that the mechanism forrelocating 120,000 refugees will not be challenged before theEuropean Court of Justice. Slovakia, on the other hand stillintends to take the matter of the 'binding quotas' to theCourt. Bratislava's opposing vote has led to a proposal by theleader of the Social Democrats in the European ParliamentGianni Pittella to suspend Prime Minister Robert Fico from theEuropean Socialist Party (ESP). Hungarian Prime Minister ViktorOrban intends to propose a 1 percent increase in contributionseach of the member states pays to the EU and a corresponding 1percent cut in overall Community spending to the other leadersof the 28 member states. This would enable 3 billion euros tobe put aside for tackling the crisis. High Representative ofthe European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyFederica Mogherini said she hoped the EU Council would make asignificant contribution to solving the global refugee crisis.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned therefugee crisis in Europe as an embarrassment for humanity andhas urged the international community to solve the problem, andto restore security and peace in countries people are beingobliged to flee from. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerryexpressed his appreciation of the 'continued efforts' theEuropean countries are making to come up with a 'coordinatedresponse' in an interview with the newspaper La Stampa. (AGI) . .