The European Union has called an emergency meeting of EU leaders to discuss the escalating refugee crisis caused by the escalating migrant crisis in the European Union.
The EU presidency said interior ministers from all 28 member states would hold an extraordinary meeting on 14 September, and the crisis had reached “unprecedented proportions”.
It follows a week that saw hundreds more people drown in the Mediterranean and 71 die in a lorry in Austria.
A record number of 107,500 migrants reached the EU’s borders last month.
It’s Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. The meeting will take place in Brussels in two weeks’ time.
The announcement comes after Germany, France, and Britain at the weekend made a joint call for talks. A record number of 107,500 migrants reached the EU’s borders last month. At least 2,500 have died since January, most of them drowning in the Mediterranean.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has again urged other European Union countries to accept a greater share of the refugees.
EU Parliament’s Vice-President, Mairead McGuiness, says a sustainable solution must be found at European level to stop the migrant crisis escalating further.
The Midlands North-West MEP is calling for a collective effort.
It comes after Germany, France and England released a joint statement calling for an urgent meeting of interior ministers to discuss proposals about how to react to the surge of migrants and refugees reaching European borders.
The statement said: “The Luxembourg presidency of the Council of the European Union convenes an extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council on 14 September in Brussels.
“The situation of migration phenomena outside and inside the European Union has recently taken unprecedented proportions.
“In order to assess the situation on the ground, the political actions under way and to discuss the next steps in order to strengthen the European response, the Luxembourg minister for immigration and asylum Jean Asselborn decided to convene an extraordinary JHA Council.”
Reception centres to register and fingerprint new arrivals at common arrival points and an agreed list of “safe” countries in a bid to speed up asylum decisions are among the steps that were suggested in the joint call.
Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May discussed the situation with France’s Bernard Cazeneuve and Germany’s Thomas de Maiziere in Paris, when they were part of a summit discussing rail security measures in the wake of the gun attack on a French train.
