EU home affairs ministers gather to seek refugee relocation deal

Source: English.news.cn, 22/09/2015

BRUSSELS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Home affairs ministers of European
Union (EU) member states gathered here Tuesday afternoon to resolve
the dispute over the emergency relocation of 120,000 refugees.


The European Commission has proposed resettling the 120,000 refugees
on top of the 40,000 refugees that member states agreed to relocate
from EU countries exposed to massive migratory flows.


However, the plan was outright resisted by many member states,
including Britain and several countries in central Europe.


Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, who has disputed the legality
of the quota system, said the plan was an "empty political gesture"
ahead of the meeting.


The minister previously said his country was ready to take in
thousands of people, but on a voluntary basis.


German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere predicted a difficult
meeting before he stepped into the talks. "This will be a hard
meeting. I'm not sure that we will have a result," he said.


However, he said the ministers would struggle to cope with how to
handle the huge number of refugees at the emergency meeting.


"We will work hard and I think it is unacceptable if Europe sends a
message to the world that today there is no possible solution.
"


Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's minister of immigration and asylum,
pledged to break the deadlock on his way into the talks.


As the president of the emergency talks, Asselborn said "very hard
work" had gone into agreeing on a draft text before the meeting. He
was confident the draft text would have a "very positive influence" on
all the delegates and should form the basis of an agreement.


The European Commissioner in charge of migration, Dimitris
Avramopoulos, reiterated the call from the EU to the member states,
saying today's meeting was the time for EU ministers to "show we
really mean it when we talk about responsibility and
solidarity."


Theresa May, secretary of state for the Home Department and minister
for women and equalities in the United Kingdom, reaffirmed that
Britain would not be participating in the relocation scheme.


She said the EU must "get on with the job" of breaking the link
between economic migrants making dangerous journeys and settling in
the EU.


"We need to return those people who are illegal economic migrants and
have no right to be here, and we need to ensure the people arriving at
EU borders are properly dealt with, properly fingerprinted, so the
decision can be made on whether illegal migrants can be returned," she
said.


On May 27, the commission presented a first implementation package
including a proposal for a Council decision to trigger an emergency
relocation of 40,000 persons in clear need of international protection
from Italy and Greece.


On Sept. 9, the Commission presented a second package of measures to
respond to the refugee crisis, including an emergency relocation
proposal for another 120,000 refugees from Greece, Hungary and Italy
to other EU member states.


European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, together with
leaders of Germany and France, has been pressing reluctant member
states to support Commission proposals.
A massive influx of migrants in search of

refuge in
European countries has occurred in Europe in recent weeks.