EUROPE-MIGRANTS/EU MINISTERS UPDATE EU countries fail to meet goals to tackle migrants crisis

Record ID: 146637

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/EU MINISTERS UPDATE EU countries fail to meet goals to tackle migrants crisis
  • Date: 20th July 2015
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JULY 20, 2015)(REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BANNER FOR LUXEMBOURG'S PRESIDENCY OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5J1J70DJJCJJD6TX4ZB0B8TKF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The European Union failed on Monday (July 20) to agree on how to spread 40,000 asylum seekers in Greece and Italy among its members over the next two years, postponing the decision until the end of the year, the top EU officials in charge of migration said at the end of a meeting of EU interior and home affairs ministers.
    Underscoring how divisive the issue has become, ministers showed little solidarity despite a deal struck by EU leaders at a summit in June. They postponed the final decision to later this year.
    The EU Commissioner for migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said he was "disappointed" by the outcome of the meeting.
    "It is clear: member states must deliver on the promises made at the European Council last month to reach the agreed figure of 40,000 persons proposed by the Commission. I want to be frank with you: I am disappointed that this did not happen today," he said.
    Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg home affairs ministers who was chairing the meeting, said numbers fell short for the second year of the plan.
    "Today we managed to reach the number we need in the first year of the plan set up to help Greece and Italy face this emergency by taking in 20,000 people. In order to meet the requirements that would cover the second year of the plan more efforts are still required but we already reached the number of over 12,000," Asselborn said.
    Following the deaths of some 700 people on a fishing boat heading for Italy from Libya in April, EU leaders called for agreement on a relocation plan by the end of July.
    But Spain, Austria and Poland opposed the deal, saying they were already doing enough to welcome asylum seekers.
    Under the plan discussed on Monday, the Commission wants EU governments to take in 20,000 refugees from their countries of origin, such as Syria, or in transit, in neighbouring Lebanon or Jordan. That part of the plan has been agreed by ministers.
    In addition, EU governments were asked to agree on shifting the 40,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other EU countries over the next two years.
    An estimated 150,000 migrants have reached Europe by sea so far in 2015, most of them arriving in Italy and Greece, the International Organization for Migration said. More than 1,900 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean, twice the toll during the period last year, spokesman Joel Millman said.
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