European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday urged EU governments to accept a mandatory system to share out a wave of refugees fleeing war and poverty but also promised to improve frontier defences and deport more illegal migrants.
In his first State of the Union address to the European Parliament, Juncker outlined an emergency plan to distribute 160,000 refugees among the 28 EU member states and promised a permanent asylum mechanism to cope with future crises.
Defending his much-criticised proposal for mandatory burden sharing, he said Europe could not leave Greece, Hungary and Italy, the main receiving countries, to cope with the flood.
He appealed to Europeans to respond to the crisis with humanity, dignity and “historical fairness” and not take fright, saying the vast majority of the 500,000 people who had arrived in Europe this year were fleeing war in Syria and Libya, “the terror of the Islamic State” or “dictatorship in Eritrea.”
“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,” the former Luxembourg prime minister said in a marathon 80-minute speech.
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 in an attempt to suggest that the German chancellor was dictating asylum policy to Europe. Berlin has said it expects to receive up to 800,000 asylum seekers this year.
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.”
He confirmed plans for a common EU list of “safe countries of origins” whose citizens would be subject to fast-track deportations if they breached EU immigration laws.
He also urged EU member states to allow refugees to work from day one while their asylum applications are processed.
Juncker’s proposals face opposition from several central European governments when EU interior ministers meet on Monday.
Many reject compulsory quotas and some, such as Slovakia, want to take in only a handful of Christian refugees. But under strong pressure from Germany, France and Italy, the tide appears to be turning towards more European solidarity.
Juncker called for efforts to strengthen the EU’s common asylum system and a review of the so-called Dublin system, under which people may request asylum only in the state where they first enter the EU, straining resources in frontline countries.
Merkel has called on poorer eastern neighbours who receive German-funded EU subsidies to show solidarity – and warned that the Schengen system of open borders from which they benefit is under threat from chaotic movements of migrants across the bloc.
“When Merkel needs something, and she plays it sensibly as she usually does, things start to move,” said another senior EU diplomat from the formerly Communist east.
While Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban remains vocally opposed to relocation quotas, his country will now benefit from the scheme, having taken in tens of thousands. And Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz conceded on Tuesday that Warsaw could take in more than the 2,000 people it announced earlier. Under Juncker’s plan, EU sources say Poland would be asked to take in nearly 12,000.
EU officials have said countries could also be offered the chance to contribute financially rather than take in migrants.
