Young migrant boys flash V-victory signs while arriving at a temporary holding center for migrants near the Hungarian border with Serbia, in Roszke, southern Hungary
The head of the European Commission issued an impassioned plea yesterday for Europe to face up to its immigration crisis, urging EU countries to agree by next week to share 160,000 refugees and warning that Greece, Italy and Hungary can no longer handle the influx alone.
Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled a list of new proposals to help Europe confront its biggest refugee emergency since World War II.
“The refugee crisis will not simply go away,” Juncker told EU lawmakers, noting that some 500,000 migrants have entered Europe this year, many from conflict-torn Syria and Libya. “It’s high time to act.”
“We are fighting against Islamic State. Why are we not ready to accept those who are fleeing Islamic State?” he said.
Juncker’s new plan involves sharing 120,000 refugees from Greece, Italy and Hungary among 22 member states, on top of a proposal the EU›s executive made in May to share 40,000 refugees from just Greece and Italy.
Britain, Ireland and Denmark are not legally bound to take part, due to exemptions they have negotiated previously. Greece, Italy and Hungary are not included.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia immediately rejected the idea that compulsory quotas might be imposed, while other nations had already criticized the new proposal even before it was made public. It chances of success hang in the balance because a solid majority of the 28 EU states must support the move for it to take place.
More than 378,000 migrants have entered Europe this year, including over 256,000 crossing the sea to Greece and nearly 120,000 braving the Mediterranean to reach Italy, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Hungary estimates that more than 160,000 people have crossed its borders alone this year. The latest proposals were drawn up as Budapest was busy building an anti-migrant fence on its border with Serbia. Tens of thousands have entered just in the last few months, many cramming into buses and trains bound for Germany.
Despite the urgency, the EU’s first refugee plan never won full support, and only around 32,000 refugees have been allocated. Hungary was among the countries to reject it, along with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.
Juncker wants both plans endorsed Monday at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels. “This has to be done in a compulsory way,” he said.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed the new immigration plan and also called for it to be made compulsory.
“We need a binding agreement on a binding distribution of refugees among all member states, according to fair criteria,” Merkel said. Germany has taken in more migrants than any other EU country, and would have to accept more than 31,000 more under the scheme.
On Monday, France threw its weight behind the EU plan by saying that it would take in 24,000 refugees this year, exactly the figure proposed in the new scheme.
Britain, which is not taking part, announced separately that it would welcome up to 20,000 refugees currently in countries outside the EU over the next five years. Ireland is also taking 520 refugees from camps outside Europe. Lorne Cook, Brussels
camerawoman in hungary fired after shown kicking migrants
A Hungarian camerawoman has been fired after she was caught on video kicking and tripping migrants entering Hungary across the border with Serbia. The N1TV Internet channel said their employee, widely identified in Hungarian media as Petra Laszlo, has been dismissed because she “behaved unacceptably” at a makeshift gathering point where police take migrants immediately after they enter Hungary near the village of Roszke. In videos posted online, Laszlo can be seen kicking at least one migrant in a group trying to break through police lines and tripping a man carrying a small child while also running from police. N1TV editor-in-chief Szabolcs Kisberk said in a statement late Tuesday that the dismissal was immediate. Much of the channel’s content centers on the activities of the far-right Jobbik party. The AP was unable to obtain a telephone number for Laszlo, and a Facebook page that she was previously said to have could not be found.
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