|
 As he spoke, disarray across the continent was driven home when
police in Hungary, Austria and Denmark closed major highways as
groups of migrants, hundreds strong, marched north. Defying
Hungary's new border fence and EU asylum rules, tens of thousands
are crossing frontiers to reach Germany and Sweden.
Facing opposition from national leaders who blocked an earlier plan
to move asylum-seekers from overburdened Italy, Greece and Hungary,
Juncker used his annual State of the Union speech to the European
Parliament to raise the stakes and quadruple to 160,000 the number
he wants taken in under mandatory quotas.
"The numbers are impressive. For some they are frightening," he
said, referring to figures suggesting half a million may have
arrived in Europe this year. "But now is not the time to take
fright. It is time for bold, determined and concerted action."
His appeal to "historical fairness", reminding east Europeans of
their own past welcome as refugees, had a mixed reception.
The Czech and Slovak leaders stood firm against quotas, which they
say will attract more migrants and disrupt their homogenous
societies. But with Germany and France throwing their weight behind
Juncker, Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said she too had got his
message.
"Calls for Polish solidarity is no blackmail," she said after her
opponent in next month's election said the biggest ex-Communist
member state should not give in to EU pressure.
"Acting jointly and efficiently in the EU is in our interest,"
Kopacz said. "Let's be decent ... President Juncker has reminded us
that once we were also refugees."
The European Commission chief said after his speech that he had been
encouraged by his recent conversations with national leaders before
their interior ministers meet on Monday to try to find a common
position on his proposals.
GLOBAL RESPONSE
With no let up in violence in Iraq and Syria, four million of whose
citizens are now refugees in neighboring countries, the European
crisis has piqued consciences globally. Australia said it would
accept another 12,000 Syrians and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
said Washington was committed to take more.
Europe should also take in more refugees before they made risky
voyages arranged by criminal gangs to reach it, Juncker said And it
needed to support Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, whose hospitality to
Syrians and Iraqis has outstripped the EU's.
He also proposed a permanent mechanism for relocation when states
face a surge in arrivals. Under current rules, the first EU country
that people enter must process their claims for asylum. Apart from
Britain, Ireland and Denmark, which have standing exemptions, states
can only opt out if they face their own crisis. That would be
limited to one year and they would also have to pay a "financial
contribution".
 EU officials say the executive is ready to push the Council of
member states to override any deadlock by forcing a vote - something
leaders are normally loath to do, and which might further expose an
east-west split on the issue.
Juncker renewed his criticism of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
Orban's building of the fence on the border with non-EU Serbia but
conceded there were no easy solutions.
The Commission's latest seven-point package of proposals, which also
included a 1.8 billion-euro fund to help African states that are
home to many economic migrants, stressed swifter and less patchy
deportation of those who do not qualify for asylum.
It published a list of "safe countries" - in the Balkans and Turkey
- whose citizens would face "fast-track" removals on the grounds
that most had little to fear to justify being refugees.
Juncker also called for a beefing up of the EU's Frontex border
agency and a possible future EU border guard force.
ON THE MOVE
But the application of common EU standards is variable. EU officials
concede that, even with the ongoing establishment of EU-staffed
"hotspots" to help Italy and Greece filter new arrivals across the
Mediterranean, it remains unclear how large numbers of unwilling
people can be coerced into leaving.
[to top of second column] |
The same is true of those relocated. Many of the Syrians, Iraqis and
Eritreans whom the EU says are most deserving and will form the bulk
of those offered accommodation want to reach wealthy countries like
Germany and Sweden.
Although legally restricted to the state where their asylum claim is
being processed, the summer has shown how people may ignore that,
straining Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.
On Wednesday, some 300 people, including children, started walking
along the main motorway linking Denmark to Germany, seemingly intent
on crossing to Sweden, already home to many refugees.
Amnesty International said: "While the proposals ... today will help
to address the refugee crisis, they certainly will not solve it -
neither in the short-term nor the long-term. EU member states must
work with the Commission to implement a much more ambitious overhaul
of the EU's asylum system."
"STOP THE BOATS"
Juncker, a former Luxembourg premier who in nine months in the job
has angered erstwhile colleagues around the EU summit table by
accusing them of petty nationalisms, won a mostly warm reception for
his emotional appeal from lawmakers in Strasbourg.
"It is Europe today that represents a beacon of hope, a haven of
stability in the eyes of women and men in the Middle East and in
Africa. That is something to be proud of and not something to fear,"
he said in an 80-minute address that he insisted on making despite
the death of his mother on Sunday.
"The Europe I want to live in is illustrated by those who want to
help," he added, denouncing calls to discriminate among refugees
according to their religion and saying that an ageing continent
needed new, legal ways to attract workers and talent.
He was heckled by Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU UK
Independence Party, who said most of those arriving were economic
migrants and the EU should emulate Australia's "stop the boats"
policy to halt a flow of "biblical proportions".
Italian lawmaker Gianluca Buonanno of the anti-immigration Northern
League donned an Angela Merkel face-mask to interrupt Juncker to
suggest the German chancellor was dictating asylum policy to Europe.
Berlin has complained Italy has been doing too little to stop
migrants from traveling north.
Juncker said the refugee crisis was his top priority, before the
economy, Greece's debt woes, Ukraine, climate change and a looming
vote on Britain's membership of the bloc.
That list of issues showed the European Union was in a bad state, he
said, declaring: "There is not enough Europe in this Union, and
there is not enough union in this Union."
(Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Jan Strupczewski and
Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, Patricia Zengerle in Washington, Teis
Jensen in Copenhagen and Michael Shields in Vienna; Writing by Paul
Taylor and Alastair Macdonald, editing by Larry King)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
