European Union Leaders Agree On New Measures To Ease Migrant Crisis; European Council President Donald Tusk Says These Are ‘Necessary Steps In The Right Direction’
The European Union leaders on Thursday agree on new measures which aim to ease the migrant crisis in the continent. European countries' government heads vow to send 1 billion euros to international agencies to improve the conditions of Syrian refugees staying at camps, as reported by Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
Aside from that, EU experts can record and classify people qualified for refugee protection, as the EU leaders also agree to build "hotspots" by the end of November, as stated by European Council President Donald Tusk.
"The measures we have agreed today will not end the crisis," says Tusk, as noted by The Associated Press on the same day. "But they are all necessary steps in the right direction."
He also warns that the "greatest tide of refugees and migrants is yet to come," as noted by BBC on Thursday.
"We need to correct the policy of open doors and windows," Tusk adds.
The emergency summit that was held in Brussels lasted for seven hours before the EU leaders came up with the new measures.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker describes the summit as "better than expected atmosphere."
Meanwhile, Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico is against the plan to distribute 120,000 refugees across the continent for resettlement.
"We won't implement this decision because we think it can't work," Fico states before the summit. "We always rejected it as nonsense."
The proposal to resettle 120,000 refugees was approved by the EU government ministers on Tuesday. These refugees will be distributed to Hungary, Greece and Italy.
Slovakia, along with Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania, opposes the proposal.
Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec expresses his disappointment on the approval of the plan in his social media account. He says, "Very soon we'll realise that the emperor is naked. Today was a defeat for common sense!"
On the other hand, President Francois Hollande of France says, "Those who don't share our values, those who don't even want to respect those principles, need to start asking themselves questions about their place in the European Union."
