European Commission satisfied with results of summit meeting about refugees

USPA NEWS - The President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, welcomed Thursday the results of the informal meeting on the management of the refugee crisis and migration. Earlier on the same day the Commission had tabled a set of priority actions of operational, budgetary and legal nature.

It had also outlined its expectations towards Member States to swiftly implement the decisions taken with solidarity and responsibility. It also had announced the next legislative initiatives to make the Common European Asylum System more robust. This will also include a proposal on legal migration and on the establishment of a European Coast Guard. President Juncker underlined that "the meeting took place in a better than expected atmosphere; it was based on consensus and everyone was making the efforts to come to common conclusions."

This meeting was the opportunity for President Juncker to present the Commission's proposals to respond to specific, urgent needs, for example: 100 million Euros more for emergency assistance for the most affected Member States; 600 million more for Frontex, the European Asylum Support Office and Europol in 2016; 200 million Euros more for the World Food Programme in 2015, UNHCR and other organisations; 300 million more for EU humanitarian aid in 2016, and more funds to stabilise their immediate neighborhood, including through additional money for the EU Regional Trust Funds for Syria and Africa and up to 1 billion for Turkey for refugee-related actions.

But it is not just about money. It is also about what the EU and Member States can do together to jointly protect our external borders, said EC. The Commission and its Agencies are here to help the European Border Agency (Frontex) will help the most affected Member states to identify, register and fingerprint people arriving at our borders. And help return those who do not have a right to stay. Also the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) will help process asylum applications, and the European police and judicial cooperation Agencies (Europol and Eurojust) will help carry out security screenings and gather information to dismantle cruel smuggler and trafficker networks.

President Juncker said that "the final statement is allowing us to work on that basis and that is exactly what we will be doing in the next coming days." Previously, Juncker added that “I cannot understand how, in time of obvious need, some Member States reduced their contributions to the World Food Programme by up to 99 per cent. I call on Member States to restore funding for food aid to the World Food Programme to the level of 2014 and to stabilise the supply of food for Syrian refugees. I also call Member States to match the money we have put for the Trust Fund for Syria - 500 million Euros - and the Trust Fund for Africa - 1.8 billion - with the same amounts. The October European Council meeting will return to the issue of migration.