European Council president Donald Tusk has urged leaders to forge a “concrete plan” to deal with the refugee crisis, and leave behind the “arguments and chaos” that have characterised the EU’s response to the refugee crisis over the past few weeks.
Speaking in Brussels ahead of Wednesday’s emergency summit of EU leaders, the head of the European Council made no reference to the divisive relocation plan backed by EU justice ministers on Tuesday, but instead stressed that a strategic approach to the refugee problem - including cooperation with non-EU countries - should be at the heart of the EU’s response to the migration crisis
In what will be widely seen as a bid to placate east European member states who strongly opposed the European Commission’s mandatory quota plan for refugees, Mr Tusk said leaders would discuss the issue of external borders. “The most urgent question we should ask ourselves tonight is how to regain control of our external borders.
Otherwise it doesn’t make any sense to even speak about a common European migration policy,” he said. Amid strong criticism from the international community about its handling of the refugee crisis unfolding on its borders, Hungary has argued that protection of external borders is its sovereign right, and enshrined in the EU treaties.
Emphasising that Europe is likely to welcome millions rather than thousands of refugees, Mr Tusk said that a combination of long-term and short-term measures were needed to tackle the crisis, including increasing funding for the World Food Aid programme and supporting the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR. Support for Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey also needed to be considered he said.
Earlier, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said that the quota system agreed last night was binding on countries, as he called on EU member states to “match words with actions”.
Earlier Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico said he intended to refer the European Commission to the European Court of Justice over its decision to introduce a relocation scheme for refugees through qualified majority voting, though the Czech Republic appeared to row back on its opposition. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania voted against the European commission’s relocation proposal on Tuesday with Finland abstaining.
The so-called ‘V4’ group of central and east European countries - Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - are due to meet before the summit commences at 7pm (Irish time), while the European People’s Party (EPP), including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, will also meet earlier this afternoon in Brussels.
